THE Y A L*fi 
SHAKESPEARF-g 



MUCH ADO 

ABOUT 

NOTHING 



Editkd by 
TuCKrR liROOKE 



Yale University 

I'll ESS 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




Q00123HVH'^2 




K „ 10 



Book 

Copyright ]^°. 



COraRIGUT DEPOSIT. 



THE YALE SHAKESPEARE 



Edited by 
Wilbur L. Cross Tucker Brooke 

WiLLARD HiGLEY DuRHAM 



Published under the Direction 

OF THE 

Department of English, Yale University, 

ON THE Fund 

Given to the Yale University Press in 1917 

BY Members of the 

Kingsley Trust Association 

To Commemorate the Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 

OF THE Founding of the Society 



The Yale Shakespeare 

MUCH ADO ABOUT 
NOTHING 



EDITED BY 

TUCKER BROOKE 




NEW HAVEN -YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS 

LONDON • HUMPHREY MILFORD 
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS -MCMVII :: \fj^' 






Copyright, 1917 
By Yale University Press 



First published. July. 1917 



AUG 1 1 1917 
©GI,A470592 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



PAGE 

The Text 1 

Notes ...... 107 

Appendix A. Sources of the Play . 124 
Appendix B. The History of the Play 128 
Appendix C. Suggestions for Collat- 
eral Reading . . 130 
Appendix D. The Text of the Present 

Edition . . . 131 
Index of Words Glossed . . .132 



The facsimile opposite represents the title- 
page of the Elizabethan Club copy qf the only 
early qiiarto edition. Fifeen copies qf this 
edition are known to survive. 



Much adoe about 
Nothing 

<tAs it hath heenfundrie times publikly 
adlcd hyxhz right honourablc,tlie Lord 

Chamberlainc hisferuants. 




LONDON 

Printed by V ,Sior Andrew Wife,and 
William Afplcy, 



DRAMATIS PERSONS 

Don Pedro, Prince of Arragon 

Leonato, Governor of Messina 

Don John, Bastard Brother to Don Pedro 

Claudio, a young Lord of Florence, Favourite 

to Don Pedro 
Benedick, a young Lord of Padua, favoured 

likewise by Don Pedro 
Antonio, Brother to Leonato 
Balthasar, Servant to Don Pedro 
BoRACHio, Confidant to Don John 
Conrade, Friend to Borachio 
Dogberry, a constable, ) ^^,^ ^^^^.^j^ g^^^^^ 
Verges, a headborough, ) 
Friar Francis 
(Innogen, Wife to Leonato) 
Hero, Daughter to Leonato and Innogen 
Beatrice, Niece to Leonato 
Margaret, ) tzvo Gentlewomen attending on 
Ursula, ) Hero 

A Sexton, a Boy in attendance on Benedick, 
Messengers, members of the Night Watch, 
and other Attendants 

Scene: Messina in Sicily. 



Much Ado About Nothing 

ACT FIRST 

Scene One 

[Before Antonio's Orchard^ 

Enter Leonato, Governor of Messina; Innogen, 
his wife; Hero, his daughter; and Beatrice, 
his niece; with a Messenger. 

Leon. I learn in this letter that Don Pedro of 
Arragon comes this night to Messina. 

Mess. He is very near by this: he was not 
three leagues off when I left him. 4 

Leon. How many gentlemen have you lost in 
this action? 

Mess. But few of any sort, and none of name. 

Leon. A victory is twice itself when the 
achiever brings home full numbers. I find here 
that Don Pedro hath bestowed much honour on 
a young Florentine called Claudio. ll 

Mess. Much deserved on his part and equally 
remembered by Don Pedro. He hath borne 
himself beyond the promise of his age, doing 
in the figure of a lamb the feats of a lion: he 
hath indeed better bettered expectation than 
you must expect of me to tell you how. 17 

Leon. He hath an uncle here in Messina will 
be very much glad of it. 

Mess. I have already delivered him letters, 
and there appears much joy in him; even so 

7 sort: rank; cf. n. name: reputation 



2 Much Ado About Nothing, I, i 

much that joy could not show itself modest 
enough without a badge of bitterness. 

Leon, Did he break out into tears ? 24 

Mess. In great measure. 

Leon. A kind overflow of kindness. There are 
no faces truer than those that are so washed: 
how much better is it to weep at j oy than to j oy 
at weeping! 29 

Beat. I pray you is Signior Mountanto re- 
turned from the wars or no.^ 

Mess. I know none of that name, lady: there 
was none such in the army of any sort. 33 

Leon. What is he that you ask for, niece .^ 

Hero. My cousin means Signior Benedick of 
Padua. 36 

Mess. O ! he is returned, and as pleasant as 
ever he was. 

Beat. He set up his bills here in Messina and 
challenged Cupid at the flight; and my uncle's 
fool, reading the challenge, subscribed for Cupid, 
and challenged him at the bird-bolt. I pray 
you, how many hath he killed and eaten in these 
wars ? But how many hath he killed ? for, indeed, 
I promised to eat all of his killing. 45 

Leon. Faith, niece, you tax Signior Benedick 
too much; but he'll be meet with you, I doubt 
it not. 48 

Mess. He hath done good service, lady, in 
these wars. 

Beat. You had musty victual, and he hath 

23 badge: distinguishing mark 26 kind: natural 

30 Mountanto; c/. n. 37 pleasant: given to joking 

39 bills: advertisement 

40 at the flight: at long-distance archery 41 subscribed: signed 
42 bird-bolt: blunt arrow for shooting birds; of. n. 

46 tax : blame 47 meet with : even with 



Much Ado About Nothing, I, i 3 

holp to eat it: he is a very valiant trencher- 
man; he hath an excellent stomach. 53 

Mess. And a good soldier too^ lady. 

Beat. And a good soldier to a lady; but 
what is he to a lord? 56 

Mess. A lord to a lord, a man to a man, 
stuffed with all honourable virtues. 

Beat. It is so, indeed; he is no less than a 
stuffed man; but for the stuffing, — well, we are 
all mortal. 61 

Leon. You must not, sir, mistake my niece. 
There is a kind of merry war betwixt Signior 
Benedick and her: they never meet but there's 
a skirmish of wit between them. 65 

Beat. Alas ! he gets nothing by that. In our 
last conflict four of his five wits went halting off, 
and now is the whole man governed with one ! 
so that if he have wit enough to keep himself 
warm, let him bear it for a difference between 
himself and his horse; for it is all the wealth 
that he hath left to be known a reasonable 
creature. Who is his companion now? He hath 
every month a new sworn brother. 74 

Mess. Is't possible? 

Beat. Very easily possible: he wears his faith 
but as the fashion of his hat; it ever changes 
with the next block. 

Mess. I see, lady, the gentleman is not in 
your books. 80 

Beat. No; an he were, I would burn my 

52 trencher-man: f^/Mffon 60 stuffed . . stuffing; c/. n. 

67 five wits ; cf. n. went halting off: retired limping 
70 difference; cf. n. 72 to be known, etc.; cf. n. 

76 iaith: fidelity 78 next block: newest fashion (hat-mould) 

80 hooks:'good books' 



4 Much Ado About Nothing, I, i 

study. But, I pray you, who is his companion ? 
Is there no young squarer now that will make a 
voyage with him to the devil? 84 

Mess. He is most in the company of the right 
noble Claudio. 

Beat. O Lord! he will hang upon him like a 
disease: he is sooner caught than the pestilence, 
and the taker runs presently mad. God help 
the noble Claudio! if he have caught the Bene- 
dick, it will cost him a thousand pound ere a' be 
cured. 92 

Mess. I will hold friends with you, lady. 

Beat. Do, good friend. 

Leon. You will never run mad, niece. 

Beat. No, not till a hot January. 96 

Mess. Don Pedro is approached. 

Enter Don Pedro, Claudio, Benedick, Balthazar, 
and JoJpn the Bastard. 

D. Pedro. Good Signior Leonato, you are 
come to meet your trouble: the fashion of the 
world is to avoid cost, and you encounter it. lOO 

Leon. Never came trouble to my house in the 
likeness of your Grace, for trouble being gone, 
comfort should remain; but when you depart 
from me, sorrow abides and happiness takes his 
leave. 105 

D. Pedro. You embrace your charge too 
willingly. I think this is your daughter. 

Leon. Her mother hath many times told 
me so. 109 



83 squarer: quarreller 89 presently: immediately 

90 the Benedick; cf. n. 91 a': he 100 encounter: go towards 
106 embrace your charge: accept your burden 



Much Ado About Nothing, I, i 5 

Bene. Were you in doubt, sir, that you 
asked her? 

Leon. Signior Benedick, no; for then you 
were a child. lis 

D. Pedro. You have it full. Benedick: we 
may guess by this what you are, being a man. 
Truly, the lady fathers herself. Be happy, lady, 
for you are like an honourable father. 117 

Bene. If Signior Leonato be her father, she 
would not have his head on her shoulders for all 
Messina, as like him as she is. 120 

Beat. I wonder that you will still be talking, 
Signior Benedick: nobody marks you. 

Bene. What! my dear Lady Disdain, are you 
yet living.^ 124 

Beat. Is it possible Disdain should die while 
she hath such meet food to feed it as Signior 
Benedick? Courtesy itself must convert to dis- 
dain, if you come in her presence. 128 

Bene. Then is courtesy a turncoat. But it is 
certain I am loved of all ladies, only you ex- 
cepted; and I would I could find in my heart 
that I had not a hard heart; for, truly, I love 
none. 133 

Beat. A dear happiness to women: they 
would else have been troubled with a pernicious 
suitor. I thank God and my cold blood, I am of 
your humour for that: I had rather hear my 
dog bark at a crow than a man swear he 
loves me. 139 

Bene. God keep your ladyship still in that 

114 iu\\:fuUin the face 

116 fathers herself: shows who is her father 

121 still: always 126 meet: proper 127 convert: change 

134 dear happiness: rare luck 137 humour: disposition 



6 Much Ado About Nothing, I, i 

mind; so some gentleman or other shall 'scape 
a predestinate scratched face. 

Beat. Scratching could not make it worse, an 
'twere such a face as yours were. 144 

Bene. Well, you are a rare parrot-teacher. 

Beat. A bird of my tongue is better than a 
beast of yours. 

Bene. I would my horse had the speed of 
your tongue, and so good a continuer. But 
keep your way, i' God's name; I have done. 

Beat. You always end with a jade's trick: 
I know you of old. 152 

D. Pedro. This is the sum of all, Leonato. — 
Signior Claudio, and Signior Benedick, my dear 
friend Leonato hath invited you all. I tell him 
we shall stay here at the least a month, and 
he heartily prays some occasion may detain 
us longer: I dare swear he is no hj^pocrite, but 
prays from his heart. 159 

Leon. If you swear, my lord, you shall not be 
forsworn. [To Don John.] Let me bid you 
welcome, my lord: being reconciled to the prince 
your brother, I owe you all duty. 

D. John. I thank you: I am not of many 
words, but I thank you. 165 

Leon. Please it your Grace lead on.^ 

D. Pedro. Your hand, Leonato; we will go 
together. 

Exeunt all but Benedick and Claudio. 

Claud. Benedick, didst thou note the daugh- 
ter of Signior Leonato? 

142 predestinate; c/. n. 143 an: if ; cf. n. 146 bird, etc. ; cf. n. 

149 so good a continuer: equal staying powers 

151 jade's trick; cf. n. 162 being: since you are 



Much Ado About Nothing, I, i 7 

Bene. I noted her not; but I looked on her. 

Claud. Is she not a modest young lady ? 172 

Bene. Do you question me, as an honest man 
should do, for my simple true judgment; or 
would you have me speak after my custom, as 
being a professed tyrant to their sex? 176 

Claud. No; I pray thee speak in sober judg- 
ment. 

Bene. Why, i' faith, methinks she's too low 
for a high praise, too brown for a fair praise, and 
too little for a great praise : only this commenda- 
tion I can afford her, that were she other than 
she is, she were unhandsome, and being no 
other but as she is, I do not like her. 184 

Claud. Thou thinkest I am in sport: I pray 
thee tell me truly how thou likest her. 

Bene. Would you buy her, that you inquire 
after her.^* 188 

Claud. Can the world buy such a jewel.^ 

Bene. Yea, and a case to put it into. But 
speak you this with a sad brow, or do you play 
the flouting Jack, to tell us Cupid is a good 
hare-finder, and Vulcan a rare carpenter? Come, 
in what key shall a man take you, to go in the 
song ? 

Claud. In mine eye she is the sweetest lady 
that ever I looked on. 197 

Bene. I can see yet without spectacles and I 
see no such matter: there's her cousin an she 
were not possessed with a fury, exceeds her as 
much in beauty as the first of May doth the last 

171 noted; c/. n. 176 tyrant: fault-finder 

191 sad: serious 192 flouting Jack: mocking fellow 

192 Cupid, etc.; cf. n. 194 go in: join in 



8 Much Ado About Nothing, I, i 

of December. But I hope you have no intent to 
turn husband, have you? 

Claud. I would scarce trust myself, though I 
had sworn to the contrary, if Hero would be my 
wife. 206 

Bene. Is't come to this, i' faith? Hath not 
the world one man but he will wear his cap with 
suspicion ? Shall I never see a bachelor of three- 
score again ? Go to, i' faith ; an thou wilt needs 
thrust thy neck into a yoke, wear the print of it, 
and sigh away Sundays. Look! Don Pedro is 
returned to seek you. 213 

Enter Don Pedro. 

D. Pedro. What secret hath held you here, 
that you followed not to Leonato's ? 

Bene. I would your Grace would constrain 
me to tell. 217 

D. Pedro. I charge thee on thy allegiance. 

Bene. You hear. Count Claudio: I can be 
secret as a dumb man; I would have you think 
so; but on my allegiance, mark you this, on my 
allegiance: he is in love. With who? now that 
is your Grace's part. Mark how short his answer 
is: with Hero, Leonato's short daughter. 224 

Claud. If this were so, so were it uttered. 

Bene. Like the old tale, my lord: 'it is not so, 
nor 'twas not so; but, indeed, God forbid it 
should be so.' 228 

Claud. If my passion change not shortly, God 
forbid it should be otherwise. 

208 wear his cap, etc.; cf. n. 210 Go to: come! 

212 sigh away Sundays; cf. n. 226 the old tale; cf. n. 



Much Ado A bout Nothing, Ij i 9 

D. Pedro. Amen, if you love her; for the lady 
is very well worthy. 232 

Claud. You speak this to fetch me in, my lord. 

D. Pedro. By my troth, I speak my thought. 

Claud. And in faith, my lord, I spoke mine. 

Bene. And by my two faiths and troths, my 
lord, I spoke mine. 237 

Claud. That I love her, I feel. 

D. Pedro. That she is worthy, I know. 

Bene. That I neither feel how she should be 
loved nor know how she should be worthy, is the 
opinion that fire cannot melt out of me: I will 
die in it at the stake. 

D. Pedro. Thou wast ever an obstinate 
heretic in the despite of beauty. 245 

Claud. And never could maintain his part 
but in the force of his will. 

Bene. That a woman conceived me, I thank 
her ; that she brought me up, I likewise give her 
most humble thanks: but that I will have a 
recheat winded in my forehead, or hang my 
bugle in an invisible baldrick, all women shall 
pardon me. Because I will not do them the 
wrong to mistrust any, I will do myself the right 
to trust none; and the fine is, — for the which I 
may go the finer, — I will live a bachelor. 256 

D. Pedro. I shall sec thee, ere I die, look pale 
with love. 

Bene. With anger, with sickness, or with 
hunger, my lord; not with love: prove that ever 
I lose more blood with love than I will get again 
with drinking, pick out mine eyes with a ballad- 

233 fetch . . in: entrap 245 despite: contempt 

251 recheat, etc.; cf. n. 255 fine: end 

256 go the finer: wear. finer clothes 260 prove: if you discover 



10 Much Ado About Nothing, I, i 

maker's pen, and hang me up at the door of a 
brothel-house for the sign of blind Cupid. 264 

D. Pedro. Well, if ever thou dost fall from 
this faith, thou wilt prove a notable argument. 

Bene. If I do, hang me in a bottle like a cat 
and shoot at me; and he that hits me, let him 
be clapped on the shoulder, and called Adam. 

D. Pedro. Well, as time shall try: 270 

'In time the savage bull doth bear the yoke.' 

Bene. The savage bull may; but if ever the 
sensible Benedick bear it, pluck off the bull's 
horns and set them in my forehead; and let me 
be vilely painted, and in such great letters as 
they write, 'Here is good horse to hire,' let them 
signify under my sign 'Here you may see 
Benedick the married man.' 

Claud. If this should ever happen, thou 
wouldst be horn-mad. 280 

D. Pedro. Nay, if Cupid have not spent all his 
quiver in Venice, thou wilt quake for this shortly. 

Bene. I look for an earthquake too then, 

D. Pedro. Well, you will temporize with the 
hours. In the meantime, good Signior Benedick, 
repair to Leonato's: commend me to him and 
tell him I will not fail him at supper ; for indeed 
he hath made great preparation. 288 

Bene. I have almost matter enough in me 
for such an embassage; and so I commit you — 

Claud. To the tuition of God: from my house, 
if I had it, — 292 

264 sign . . Cupid; c/. n. 266 argument: theme for talk 

267 bottle; cf. n. 269 Adam; cf. n. 270 try: prove 

271 Cf.n. 280 horn-mad: mad as a horned beast 

282 Venice; cf. n. 284 temporize; cf. n. 

291 tuition: protection; cf. n. 



Much Ado A bout Nothing, I,i 1 1 

D. Pedro. The sixth of July: your loving 
friend. Benedick. 

Bene. Nay, mock not, mock not. The body 
of your discourse is sometime guarded with frag- 
ments, and the guards are but slightly basted on 
neither: ere you flout old ends any further, 
examine your conscience: and so I leave you. 

Ejcit. 

Claud. My liege, your highness now may do 
me good. 300 

D. Pedro. My love is thine to teach: teach it 
but how, 
And thou shalt see how apt it is to learn 
Any hard lesson that may do thee good. 

Claud. Hath Leonato any son, my lord? 304 

D. Pedro. No child but Hero; she's his only 
heir. 
Dost thou affect her, Claudio? 

Claud. O ! my lord. 

When you went onward on this ended action, 
I looked upon her with a soldier's eye, 308 

That lik'd, but had a rougher task in hand 
Than to drive liking to the name of love ; 
But now I am return'd, and that war-thoughts 
Have left their places vacant, in their rooms 312 
Come thronging soft and delicate desires. 
All prompting me how fair young Hero is. 
Saying, I lik'd her ere I went to wars. 

D. Pedro. Thou wilt be like a lover presently. 
And tire the hearer with a book of words. 317 
If thou dost love fair Hero, cherish it. 
And I will break with her, and with her father, 

296 guarded: trimmed; cf. n. 297 guards: trimmings 

306 affect: love 319 break: open negotiations 



12 Much Ado About Nothing, I, ii 

And thou shalt have her. Was't not to this end 
That thou began'st to twist so fine a story ? 321 

Claud. How sweetly do you minister to love, 
That know love's grief by his complexion ! 
But lest my liking might too sudden seem, 324 
I would have salv'd it with a longer treatise. 

D. Pedro. What need the bridge much 
broader than the flood: 
The fairest grant is the necessity. 
Look, what will serve is fit: 'tis once, thou lov'st. 
And I will fit thee with the remedy. 329 

I know we shall have revelling to-night: 
I will assume thy part in some disguise, 
And tell fair Hero I am Claudio; 332 

And in her bosom I'll unclasp my heart. 
And take her hearing prisoner with the force 
And strong encounter of my amorous tale: 
Then, after to her father will I break; 336 

And the conclusion is, she shall be thine. 
In practice let us put it presently. Exeunt. 

Scene Two 

[Leonato's Housed 

Enter Leonato and [Antonio,^ an old man, 
brother to Leonato. 

Leon. How now, brother! Where is my 
cousin, your son? Hath he provided this 
music? 

Ant. He is very busy about it. But, brother, 

1 can tell you strange news that you yet dreamt 
not of. 

321 twist: spin 323 complexion: outward appearance 

325 salv'd: softened 327 Cf.n. 328 'tis once: once for all 

2 cousin: nephew; cf. n. 



Much Ado A bout Nothing, I, ii 1 3 

Leon. Are they good? 7 

Ant. As the event stamps them: but they 
have a good cover; they show well outward. 
The prince and Count Claudio, walking in a 
thick-pleached alley in my orchard, were thus 
much overheard by a man of mine: the prince 
discovered to Claudio that he loved my niece 
your daughter, and meant to acknowledge it 
this night in a dance; and, if he found her 
accordant, he meant to take the present time by 
the top and instantly break with you of it. 17 

Leon. Hath the fellow any wit that told you 
this ? 

Ant. A good sharp fellow: I will send for 
him; and question him yourself. 21 

Leon. No, no; we will hold it as a dream till 
it appear itself: but I will acquaint my daughter 
withal, that she may be the better prepared for 
an answer, if peradventure this be true. Go you, 
and tell her of it. [Several persons cross the 
stage.] Cousins, you know what you have to do. 
O ! I cry you mercy, friend ; go you with me, 
and I will use your skill. Good cousin, have a 
care this busy time. Exeunt. 

8 event: outcome 

11 thick-pleached: hedged with intertwining branches 

13 discovered: revealed 16 accordant: consenting 

17 top: forelock 23 appear: make evident 

24 withal: therewith 28 cry you mercy: beg pardon 



14 Much Ado About Nothing, I, Hi 

Scene Three 

\^The Same'\ 

Enter Sir John the Bastard and Conrade, his 
companion. 

Con. What the good-year, my lord! why are 
you thus out of measure sad? 

D. John. There is no measure in the occasion 
that breeds; therefore the sadness is without 
limit. 5 

Con. You should hear reason. 

D. John. And when I have heard it, what 
blessing brings it? 8 

Con. If not a present remedy, at least a 
patient sufferance. 

D. John. I wonder that thou, being, — as thou 
say'st thou art, — born under Saturn, goest about 
to apply a moral medicine to a mortifying mis- 
chief. I cannot hide what I am: I must be sad 
when I have cause, and smile at no man's jests; 
eat when I have stomach, and wait for no man's 
leisure ; sleep when I am drowsy, and tend on no 
man's business; laugh when I am merry, and 
claw no man in his humour. 19 

Con. Yea; but you must not make the full 
show of this till you may do it without control- 
ment. You have of late stood out against your 
brother, and he hath ta'en you newly into his 
grace; where it is impossible you should take 

1 good-year : an unexplained expletive 

2 out of measure: immeasurably 

12 born under Saturn; cf. n. 

13 mortifying mischief : deadly disease 

17 tend on: attend to 19 claw: tickle, flatter 



Much Ado A bout Nothing, I, Hi 1 5 

true root but by the fair weather that you make 
yourself: it is needful that you frame the season 
for your own harvest. 27 

D. John. I had rather be a canker in a hedge 
than a rose in his grace; and it better fits my 
blood to be disdained of all than to fashion a 
carriage to rob love from any: in this, though I 
cannot be said to be a flattering honest man, it 
must not be denied but I am a plain-dealing 
villain. I am trusted with a muzzle and en- 
franchised with a clog ; therefore I have decreed 
not to sing in my cage. If I had my mouth, I 
would bite; if I had my liberty, I would do my 
liking: in the meantime, let me be that I am, 
and seek not to alter me. 39 

Con. Can you make no use of your discontent.^ 
D. John. I make all use of it, for I use it 
only. Who comes here? 

Enter Borachio. 

What news, Borachio? 43 

Bora. I came yonder from a great supper: 
the prince, your brother, is royally entertained 
by Leonato; and I can give you intelligence of 
an intended marriage. 47 

D. John. Will it serve for any model to build 
mischief on? What is he for a fool that be- 
troths himself to unquietness? 

Bora. Marry, it is your brother's right hand. 

D.John. Who? the most exquisite Claudio? 

Bora. Even he. 53 

26 ir?imt^: produce _ ^ 28 caLXik^r: dog-rose 

30 blood: temper fashion a carriage: counterfeit a behavior 

35 enfranchised: liberated 49 What . . ior: what kind of 



16 Much Ado About Nothing, I, Hi 

D. John. A proper squire ! And who^ and 
who? which way looks he? 

Bora. Marry, on Hero, the daughter and heir 
of Leonato. 57 

D. John. A very forward March-chick ! How 
came you to this? 

Bora. Being entertained for a perfumer, as I 
was smoking a musty room, comes me the prince 
and Claudio, hand in hand, in sad conference: 
I whipt me behind the arras, and there heard it 
agreed upon that the prince should woo Hero 
for himself, and having obtained her, give her to 
Count Claudio. 66 

D. John. Come, come; let us thither: this 
may prove food to my displeasure. That young 
start-up hath all the glory of my overthrow: if 
I can cross him any way, I bless myself every 
way. You are both sure, and will assist me? 

^ * f To the death, my lord. 72 

Con. i ' -^ 

D. John. Let us to the great supper : their 
cheer is the greater that I am subdued. Would 
the cook were of my mind! Shall we go prove 
what's to be done? 76 

Bora. We'll wait upon your lordship. Exeunt. 

54 proper: fine 58 March-chick: prematurely hatched chicken 
60 entertained: employed 61 smoking, etc.; cf. n. 

69 start-up: upstart 71 sure: trustworthy 



Much Ado About N othing , II , i 17 

ACT SECOND 

Scene One 

[^ Hall in Leonato's House] 

Enter Leonato; [Antonio,'] his brother; his 
wife; Hero, his daughter; and Beatrice, his 
niece; and a kinsman. 

Leon. Was not Count John here at supper? 

Ant. I saw him not. 

Beat. How tartly that gentleman looks ! I 
never can see him but I am heart-burned an 
hour after. 5 

Hero. He is of a very melancholy disposition. 

Beat. He were an excellent man that were 
made just in the mid-way between him and 
Benedick: the one is too like an image, and says 
nothing; and the other too like my lady's eldest 
son, evermore tattling. ll 

Leon. Then half Signior Benedick's tongue 
in Count John's mouth, and half Count John's 
melancholy in Signior Benedick's face, — 

Beat. With a good leg and a good foot, uncle, 
and money enough in his purse, such a man 
would win any woman in the world, if a' could 
get her good will. 18 

Leon. By my troth, niece, thou wilt never get 
thee a husband, if thou be so shrewd of thy 
tongue. 21 

Ant. In faith, she's too curst. 

Beat. Too curst is more than curst: I shall 
lessen God's sending that way; for it is said, 

4 heart-burned: dyspeptic 

20 shrewd: j/tar/' 22 curst: ill-tempered 



1 8 Much Ado A bout Nothing, II, i 

'God sends a curst cow short horns;' but to a 
cow too curst he sends none. 

Leon. So, by being too curst, God will send 
you no horns ? 28 

Beat. Just, if he send me no husband; for 
the which blessing I am at him upon my knees 
every morning and evening. Lord! I could not 
endure a husband with a beard on his face: I 
had rather lie in the woollen. 33 

Leon. You may light on a husband that hath 
no beard. 

Beat. What should I do with him? dress him 
in my apparel and make him my waiting-gentle- 
woman? He that hath a beard is more than a 
youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a 
man; and he that is more than a youth is not 
for me ; and he that is less than a man, I am not 
for him: therefore I will even take sixpence in 
earnest of the bear-ward, and lead his apes into 
hell. 44 

Leon. Well then, go you into hell? 

Beat. No ; but to the gate ; and there will the 
devil meet me, like an old cuckold, with horns 
on his head, and say, 'Get you to heaven, 
Beatrice, get you to heaven; here's no place 
for you maids:' so deliver I up my apes, and 
away to Saint Peter for the heavens; he shows 
me where the bachelors sit, and there live we as 
merry as the day is long. 53 

Ant. [To Hero.] Well, niece, I trust you will 
be ruled by your father. 

29 Just: just so 

33 He in the woollen: sleep between blankets (without sheets) 

43 earnest: advance wages bear-ward: trainer of bears (and 

often apes) lead . . hell; cf. n. 
47 cuckold: deceived husband 51 for the heavens; cf. n. 



Much Ado About Nothing, II, i 19 

Beat. Yes, faith; it is my cousin's duty to 
make curtsy, and say, 'Father, as it please you:' 
— but yet for all that, cousin, let him be a hand- 
some fellow, or else make another curtsy, and 
say, 'Father, as it please me.' 60 

Leon. Well, niece, I hope to see you one day 
fitted with a husband. 

Beat. Not till God make men of some other 
metal than earth. Would it not grieve a woman 
to be over-mastered with a piece of valiant dust ? 
to make an account of her life to a clod of 
wayward marl,^ No, uncle, I'll none: Adam's 
sons are my brethren; and truly, I hold it a 
sin to match in my kindred. 69 

Leon. Daughter, remember what I told you: 
if the prince do solicit you in that kind, you 
know your answer. 72 

Beat. The fault will be in the music, cousin, 
if you be not wooed in good time: if the prince 
be too important, tell him there is measure in 
everything, and so dance out the answer. For, 
hear me, Hero: wooing, wedding, and repenting, 
is as a Scotch jig, a measure, and a cinque-pace: 
the first suit is hot and hasty, like a Scotch jig, 
and full as fantastical; the wedding, mannerly- 
modest, as a measure, full of state and ancientry ; 
and then comes Repentance, and, with his bad 
legs, falls into the cinque-pace faster and faster, 
till he sink into his grave. 84 

Leon. Cousin, you apprehend passing shrewdly. 

64 metal: substance 65 over-mastered with: ^«&y^cf fo 

67 marl: clay 75 important: importunate 

78 measure: a stately dance cinque-pace: lively dance 

80 mannerly-: &^comtn^/3' 81 ancientry: antique style 

85 apprehend: understand passing: exceedingly 



20 3Iuch Ado About Nothing, II, i 

Beat. I have a good eye, uncle: I can see a 
church by daylight. 

Leon. The revellers are entering, brother: 
make good room. 89 

Enter Prince Pedro, Claudio, Benedick, Bal- 
thazar, Don John, [Borachio, Margaret, 
Ursula, and other] Maskers with a drum. 

D. Pedro. Lady, will you walk about with 
your friend .f* 

Hero. So you walk softly and look sweetly 
and say nothing, I am yours for the walk; and 
especially when I walk away. 

D.Pedro. With me in your company.^ 

Hero. I may say so, when I please. 98 

D. Pedro. And when please you to say so? 

Hero. When I like your favour; for God 
defend the lute should be like the case ! 

D.Pedro. My visor is Philemon's roof; with- 
in the house is Jove. loi 

Hero. Why, then, your visor should be 
thatch'd. 

D. Pedro. Speak low, if you speak love. 104 

[Takes her aside."] 

Balth. Well, I would you did like me. 

Marg. So would not I, for your own sake ; for 
I have many ill qualities. 

Balth. Which is one? 108 

Marg. I say my prayers aloud. 

Balth. I love you the better; the hearers may 
cry Amen. 

Marg. God match me with a good dancer! 

86 see a church; cf. n. 98 favour: face 99 defend: forbid 
100 visor: mask Philemon's roof; cf. n. 107 ill: had 



Much Ado A bout Nothing, II, i 2 1 

Balth. Amen. 113 

Marg. And God keep him out of my sight 
when the dance is done ! Answer^ clerk. 

Balth. No more words: the clerk is an- 
swered. 117 

Urs. I know you well enough: you are 
Signior Antonio. 

Ant. At a word, I am not. 120 

Urs. I know you by the waggling of your 
head. 

Ant. To tell you true, I counterfeit him. 

Urs. You could never do him so ill-well, 
unless you were the very man. Here's his dry 
hand up and down: you are he, you are he. 

Ant. At a word, I am not. 127 

Urs. Come, come; do you think I do not 
know you by your excellent wit? Can virtue 
hide itself.'' Go to, mum, you are he: graces will 
appear, and there's an end. 131 

Beat. Will you not tell me who told you so? 

Bene. No, you shall pardon me. 

Beat. Nor will you not tell me who you are? 

Bene. Not now. 135 

Beat. That I was disdainful, and that I had 
my good wit out of the 'Hundred Merry Tales.' 
Well, this was Signior Benedick that said so. 

Bene. What's he? 

Beat. I am sure you know him well enough. 

Bene. Not I, believe me. 141 

Beat. Did he never make you laugh? 

115 Answer, clerk; cf. n. 120 at a word: to be brief 

124 do him so ill-well: represent his imperfection so perfectly 
126 up and down: all over 131 an end: no more to be said 

137 'Hundred Merry Tales'; cf. n. 



22 Much Ado About Nothing, II, i 

Bene. I pray you, what is he? 

Beat. Why, he is the prince's jester: a very 
dull fool; only his gift is in devising impossible 
slanders: none but libertines delight in him; 
and the commendation is not in his wit, but 
in his villainy; for he both pleases men and 
angers them, and then they laugh at him and 
beat him. I am sure he is in the fleet: I would 
he had boarded me ! 151 

Bene. When I know the gentleman, I'll tell 
him what you say. 

Beat. Do, do: he'll but break a comparison 
or two on me; which, peradventure not marked 
or not laughed at, strikes him into melancholy; 
and then there's a partridge wing saved, for the 
fool will eat no supper that night. Music for 
We must follow the leaders. the dance. 

Bene. In every good thing. 160 

Beat. Nay, if they lead to any ill, I will leave 
them at the next turning. Dance. 

Exeunt [all but Don John, Borachio, and 
Claudio]. 

D. John. Sure my brother is amorous on 
Hero, and hath withdrawn her father to break 
with him about it. The ladies follow her and but 
one visor remains. 

Bora. And that is Claudio: I know him by 
his bearing. 168 

D.John. Are you not Signior Benedick.'' 

Claud. You know me well; I am he. 

D. John. Signior, you are very near my 

145 only his gift: his only talent 150 fleet; cf. n. 

154 break a comparison: crack a joke 171 near: intimate with 



Much Ado About Nothing, II, i 23 

brother in his love: he is enamoured on Hero; 
I pray you, dissuade him from her; she is no 
equal for his birth: you may do the part of an 
honest man in it. 

Claud. How know you he loves her? 176 

D. John. I heard him swear his affection. 

Bora. So did I too; and he swore he would 
marry her to-night. 

D. John. Come, let us to the banquet. 180 

Exeunt Don John and Borachio. 

Claud. Thus answer I in name of Benedick, 
But hear these ill news with the ears of Claudio. 
'Tis certain so; the prince woos for himself. 
Friendship is constant in all other things 184 
Save in the office and affairs of love: 
Therefore all hearts in love use their own 

tongues ; 
Let every eye negotiate for itself 
And trust no agent ; for beauty is a witch 188 
Against whose charms faith melteth into blood. 
This is an accident of hourly proof, 
Which I mistrusted not. Farewell, therefore, 
Hero! 

Enter Benedick. 

Bene. Count Claudio? 192 

Claud. Yea, the same. 

Bene. Come, will you go with me? 

Claud. Whither? 

Bene. Even to the next willow, about your 
own business, count. What fashion will you 
wear the garland of? About your neck, like a 

183 certain: certainly 186 use; cf. n. 

189 Against: in contact with 196 willow; cf. n. 



24 Much Ado About Nothing, II, i 

usurer's chain? or under your arm, like a lieu- 
tenant's scarf? You must wear it one way, for 
the prince hath got your Hero. 201 

Claud. I wish him joy of her. 

Bene. Why, that's spoken like an honest 
drovier : so they sell bullocks. But did you think 
the prince would have served you thus ? 205 

Claud. I pray you, leave me. 

.Bene. Ho! now you strike like the blind man: 
'twas the boy that stole your meat, and you'll 
beat the post. 209 

Claud. If it will not be, I'll leave you. Exit. 

Bene. Alas ! poor hurt fowl. Now will he 
creep into sedges. But, that my lady Beatrice 
should know me, and not know me ! The prince's 
fool ! Ha ! it may be I go under that title be- 
cause I am merry. Yea, but so I am apt to do 
myself wrong; I am not so reputed: it is the 
base though bitter disposition of Beatrice that 
puts the world into her person, and so gives me 
out. Well, I'll be revenged as I may. 210 

Enter the Prince. 

D.Pedro. Now, signior, where's the count? 
Did you see him? 

Bene. Troth, my lord, I have played the part 
of Lady Fame. I found him here as melancholy 
as a lodge in a warren. I told him, and I think 
I told him true, that your Grace had got the 
good will of this young lady; and I offered him 

204 drovier: cattle-dealer 207 like the blind man; cf. n. 

212 creep into sedges; cf. n. 217 base though bitter; cf. n. 

218 puts . . person: identifies the world with herself gives 

me out: represents me 

223 Lady Fame; cf. n. 

224 lodge in a warren: solitary game-keeper's hut 



Much Ado About Nothing, II, i 25 

my company to a willow tree, either to make 
him a garland, as being forsaken, or to bind him 
up a rod, as being worthy to be whipped. 229 

D. Pedro. To be whipped! What's his fault? 

Bene. The flat transgression of a school-boy, 
who, being overjoy'd with finding a bird's nest, 
shows it his companion, and he steals it. 233 

D. Pedro. Wilt thou make a trust a trans- 
gression? The transgression is in the stealer. 

Bene. Yet it had not been amiss the rod had 
been made, and the garland too ; for the garland 
he might have worn himself, and the rod he 
might have bestowed on you, who, as I take it, 
have stolen his bird's nest. 240 

D. Pedro. I will but teach them to sing, and 
restore them to the owner. 

Bene. If their singing answer your saying, by 
my faith, you say honestly. 244 

D. Pedro. The Lady Beatrice hath a quarrel 
to you: the gentleman that danced with her 
told her she is much wronged by you. 

Bene. O ! she misused me past the endurance 
of a block: an oak but with one green leaf on it, 
would have answered her: my very visor began 
to assume life and scold with her. She told me, 
not thinking I had been myself, that I was the 
prince's jester; that I was duller than a great 
thaw; huddling jest upon jest with such impos- 
sible conveyance upon me, that I stood like a 
man at a mark, with a whole army shooting at 

228 bind . . rod: tie several zvilloiv switches into a scourge 
231 ^at: dozvn rig lit 241 them: the birds in the nest 

243, 244 Cf. n. 248 misused: abused 

254* thaw: unseasonable wet spell in winter huddling: piling 

255 impossible conveyance: incredible jugglery 

256 man at a mark; cf. n. 



26 Much Ado About Nothing, II, i 

me. She speaks poniards, and every word stabs : 
if her breath were as terrible as her terminations, 
there were no living near her; she would infect 
to the north star. I would not marry her, though 
she were endowed with all that Adam had left 
him before he transgressed: she would have 
made Hercules have turned spit, yea, and have 
cleft his club to make the fire too. Come, talk 
not of her ; you shall find her the infernal Ate in 
good apparel. I would to God some scholar 
would conjure her, for certainly, while she is 
here, a man may live as quiet in hell as in a 
sanctuary ; and people sin upon purpose because 
they would go thither; so, indeed, all disquiet, 
horror and perturbation follow her. 271 

Enter Claudio, Beatrice, Hero, and Leonato. 

D.Pedro. Look! here she comes. 

Bene. Will your Grace command me any 
service to the world's end? I will go on the 
slightest errand now to the Antipodes that you 
can devise to send me on; I will fetch you a 
toothpicker now from the furthest inch of Asia ; 
bring you the length of Prester John's foot; 
fetch you a hair off the Great Cham's beard; 
do you any embassage to the Pigmies, rather 
than hold three words' conference with this 
harpy. You have no employment for me } 282 

D. Pedro. None, but to desire your good 
company. 

258 terminations: epithets 259 infect, etc.; cf. n. 

263 Hercules, etc.; cf. n. 265 infernal Ate, etc.; cf. n. 

266 some scholar, etc.; cf. n. 
278-282 Prester John's foot, etc.; cf. notes 



Much Ado About Nothing, II, i 27 

Bene. O God, sir, here's a dish I love not: I 

cannot endure my Lady Tongue. Exit. 

D.Pedro. Come, lady, come; you have lost 

the heart of Signior Benedick. 288 

Beat. Indeed, my lord, he lent it me awhile; 

and I gave him use for it, a double heart for a 

single one: marry, once before he won it of me 

with false dice, therefore your Grace may well 

say I have lost it. 293 

D. Pedro. You have put him down, lady, you 

have put him down. 

Beat. So I would not he should do me, my 
lord, lest I should prove the mother of fools. I 
have brought Count Claudio, whom you sent 
me to seek. 299 

D. Pedro. Why, how now, count ! wherefore 
are you sad? 

Claud. Not sad, my lord. 
D.P^Jro. How then? Sick? 
Count. Neither, my lord. 304 

Beat. The count is neither sad, nor sick, nor 
merry, nor well; but civil count, civil as an 
orange, and something of that jealous com- 
plexion. 308 
D. Pedro. V faith, lady, I think your blazon 
to be true; though, I'll be sworn, if he be so, his 
conceit is false. Here, Claudio, I have wooed in 
thy name, and fair Hero is won; I have broke 
with her father, and, his good will obtained; 
name the day of marriage, and God give thee joy ! 
Leon. Count, take of me my daughter, and 

290 use: usury, interest 294 put him down: vanquished him 

306 civil . . civil; c/.«. 309 h\&zon: description 

311 conceit: conception 



28 Much Ado About Nothing, II, i 

with her my fortunes: his Grace hath made the 
match, and all grace say Amen to it ! 317 

Beat. Speak, count, 'tis your cue. 

Claud. Silence is the perfectest herald of joy: 
I were but little happy, if I could say how much. 
Lady, as you are mine, I am yours : I give away 
myself for you and dote upon the exchange. 322 

Beat. Speak, cousin; or, if you cannot, stop 
his mouth with a kiss, and let not him speak 
neither. 325 

D. Pedro. In faith, lady, you have a merry 
heart. 

Beat. Yea, my lord; I thank it, poor fool, it 
keeps on the windy side of care. My cousin tells 
him in his ear that he is in her heart. 330 

Claud. And so she doth, cousin. 

Beat. Good Lord, for alliance! Thus goes 
every one to the world but I, and I am sun- 
burnt. I may sit in a corner and cry heigh-ho 
for a husband! 335 

D. Pedro. Lady Beatrice, I will get you one. 

Beat. I would rather have one of your father's 
getting. Hath your Grace ne'er a brother like 
you? Your father got excellent husbands, if a 
maid could come by them. 340 

D. Pedro. Will you have me, lady ? 

Beat. No, my lord, unless I might have an- 
other for working days : your Grace is too costly 
to wear every day. But, I beseech your Grace, 
pardon me; I was born to speak all mirth and 
no matter. 346 

317 all grace: i.e. the grace of God 

329 windy: zt'indrvard (or advantageous) tells . . ear: whispers 

332 alliance; c/. 71. goes . . to the world: marnV^y 

334 sun-burnt; cf. n. 338 getting: begetting 

346 matter: sense 



Much Ado A bout Nothing, II, i 29 

D. Pedro. Your silence most offends me, and 
to be merry best becomes you; for, out of ques- 
tion, you .were born in a merry hour. 

Beat. No, sure, my lord, my mother cried; 
but then there was a star danced, and under 
that was I born. Cousins, God give you joy ! 352 

Leon. Niece, will you look to those things I 
told you oi? 

Beat. I cry you mercy, uncle. By your 
Grace's pardon. Exit Beatrice. 

D. Pedro. By my troth, a pleasant-spirited 
lady. 358 

Leon. There's little of the melancholy ele- 
ment in her, my lord: she is never sad but when 
she sleeps; and not ever sad then, for I have 
heard my daughter say, she hath often dreamed 
of unhappiness and waked herself with laughing. 

D. Pedro. She cannot endure to hear tell of a 
husband. 365 

Leon. O ! by no means : she mocks all her 
wooers out of suit. 

D. Pedro. She were an excellent wife for 
Benedick. 369 

Leon. O Lord! my lord, if they were but a 
week married, they would talk themselves mad. 

D. Pedro. Count Claudio, when mean you to 
go to church? 373 

Claud. To-morrow, my lord. Time goes on 
crutches till love have all his rites. 

Leon. Not till Monday, my dear son, which is 
hence a just seven-night; and a time too brief 
too, to have all things answer my mind. 378 

361 ever: always 367 suit: courtship 373 go to church : warrj* 
378 answer my mind: correspond with my intention 



30 Much Ado About Nothing, II, i 

D. Pedro. Come, you shake the head at so 
long a breathing; but, I warrant thee, Claudio, 
the time shall not go dully by us. I will in the 
interim undertake one of Hercules' labours, 
which is, to bring Signior Benedick and the 
Lady Beatrice into a mountain of affection the 
one with the other. I would fain have it a 
match ; and I doubt not but to fashion it, if you 
three will but minister such assistance as I shall 
give you direction. 388 

Leon. My lord, I am for you, though it cost 
me ten nights' watchings. 

Claud. And I, my lord. 

D.Pedro. And you too, gentle Hero? 392 

Hero. I will do any modest office, my lord, to 
help my cousin to a good husband. 

D. Pedro. And Benedick is not the unhope- 
fullest husband that I know. Thus far can I 
praise him; he is of a noble strain, of approved 
valour, and confirmed honesty. I will teach you 
how to humour your cousin, that she shall fall 
in love with Benedick; and I, with your two 
helps, will so practise on Benedick that, in 
despite of his quick wit and his queasy stomach, 
he shall fall in love with Beatrice. If we can do 
this, Cupid is no longer an archer: his glory 
shall be ours, for we are the only love-gods. 
Go in with me, and I will tell you my drift. 406 

Exeunt. 

380 breathing: delay 387 minister: offer 

389 am for you: accept yeur proposal 

397 strain: lineage approved: tested 

398 honesty: honor 

402 qn&dLsy stomdich: squeamish taste 406 dr'iit: purpose 



Much Ado A bout Nothing, II, ii 3 1 

Scene Two 

[The Same] 

Enter Don John and Borachio. 

D.John. It is so; the Count Claudio shall 
marry the daughter of Leonato. 

Bora. Yea, my lord; but I can cross it. 

D. John. Any bar, any cross, any impedi- 
ment will be medicinable to me: I am sick in 
displeasure to him, and whatsoever comes 
athwart his affection ranges evenly with mine. 
How canst thou cross this marriage? 8 

Bora. Not honestly, my lord; but so covertly 
that no dishonesty shall appear in me. 

D. Jojin. Show me briefly how. 

Bora. I think I told your lordship, a year 
since, how much I am in the favour of Margaret, 
the waiting-gentlewoman to Hero. 14 

D. John. I remember. 

Bora. I can, at any unseasonable instant of 
the night, appoint her to look out at her lady's 
chamber-window. 

D. John. What life is in that, to be the death 
of this marriage? 20 

Bora. The poison of that lies in you to 
temper. Go you to the prince your brother; 
spare not to tell him, that he hath wronged his 
honour in marrying the renowned Claudio, — 
whose estimation do you mightily hold up, — to 
a contaminated stale, such a one as Hero. 26 

D. John. What proof shall I make of that? 

1 shall: w^o 6 displeasure: dislike 

7 affection: liking ranges evenly: runs parallel 
21 lies in: depends upon 22 temper: mix 

25 estimation: wori/r 26 stale: wan f on 



32 Much Ado About Nothing, II, ii 

Bora. Proof enough to misuse the prince, to 
vex Claudio, to undo Hero, and kill Leonato. 
Look you for any other issue? 

D. John. Only to despite them, I will en- 
deavour any thing. 32 

Bora. Go, then; find me a meet hour to draw 
Don Pedro and the Count Claudio alone: tell 
them that you know that Hero loves me ; intend 
a kind of zeal both to the prince and Claudio, 
as — in love of your brother's honour, who hath 
made this match, and his friend's reputation, 
who is thus like to be cozened with the sem- 
blance of a maid, — that you have discovered 
thus. They will scarcely believe this without 
trial: offer them instances, which shall bear no 
less likelihood than to see me at her chamber- 
window, hear me call Margaret Hero ; hear Mar- 
garet term me Claudio; and bring them to see 
this the very night before the intended wedding: 
for in the meantime I will so fashion the matter 
that Hero shall be absent; and there shall 
appear such seeming truth of Hero's disloyalty, 
that jealousy shall be called assurance, and all 
the preparation overthrown. 51 

D. John. Grow this to what adverse issue it 
can, I will put it in practice. Be cunning in the 
working this, and thy fee is a thousand ducats. 

Bora. Be you constant in the accusation, and 
my cunning shall not shame me. 56 

D. John. I will presently go learn their day 
of marriage. Exeunt. 

28 misnse: delude 35 intend: pretend 39 cozened: deceived 
42 instances: proofs 45 term me Claudio; cf. n. 

50 jealousy: suspicion 51 Tpreparation: i.e. for the marriage 

54 ducats: Italian coins, worth about a dollar 



Much Ado About Nothing, II, Hi 33 

Scene Three 

[Leonato's Orchard] 

Enter Benedick, alone. 

Bene. Boy! 

[Enter Boy.] 

Boy. Signior? 

Bene. In my chamber-window lies a book; 
bring it hither to me in the orchard. 4 

Boy. I am here already, sir. 

Bene. I know that; but I would have thee 
hence, and here again. [Exit Boy.] I do much 
wonder that one man, seeing how much another 
man is a fool when he dedicates his behaviours 
to love, will, after he hath laughed at such shal- 
low follies in others, become the argument of his 
own scorn by falling in love: and such a man is 
Claudio. I have known, when there was no 
music with him but the drum and the fife; and 
now had he rather hear the tabor and the pipe: 
I have known, when he would have walked ten 
mile afoot to see a good armour; and now will 
he lie ten nights awake, carving the fashion of a 
new doublet. He was wont to speak plain and 
to the purpose, like an honest man and a soldier ; 
and now is he turned orthographer ; his words 
are a very fantastical banquet, just so many 
strange dishes. May I be so converted, and see 
with these eyes? I cannot tell; I think not: I 
will not be sworn but love may transform me to 
an oyster; but I'll take my oath on it, till he 

5 here already; c/. «. 15 tabor; c/. n. 18 carving: mo« Win flr 
19 doublet: close fitting coat 



34 Much Ado A bout Nothing, II, Hi 

have made an oyster of me, he shall never make 
me such a fool. One woman is fair, yet I am 
well; another is wise, yet I am well; another 
virtuous, yet I am well; but till all graces be in 
one woman, one woman shall not come in my 
grace. Rich she shall be, that's certain; wise, or 
I'll none; virtuous, or I'll never cheapen her; 
fair, or I'll never look on her; mild, or come not 
near me; noble, or not I for an angel; of good 
discourse, an excellent musician, and her hair 
shall be of what colour it please God. Ha ! the 
prince and Monsieur Love! I will hide me in 
the arbour. [Withdraws.] 

Enter Prince, Leonato, Claudio, and Balthazar, 
with Music. 

D. Pedro. Come, shall we hear this music? 40 
Claud. Yea, my good lord. How still the 
evening is. 
As hush'd on purpose to grace harmony! 

D. Pedro. See you where Benedick hath hid 

himself } 
Claud. O! very well, my lord: the music 
ended, 44 

We'll fit the kid-fox with a penny-worth. 

D. Pedro. Come, Balthazar, we'll hear that 

song again. 
Balth. O ! good my lord, tax not so bad a voice 
To slander music any more than once. 48 

33 I'll none: I'll have none of her cheapen: bargain for 

35 angel; cf. n. 37 of what colour, etc.; cf. «„ 

39 S. d. Balthazar; cf. n. 

42 grace harmony: do honor to music 

45 kid-fox; cf. n. penny-worth: a good bargain 

47 tax: impose a task 



Much Ado About Nothing, II, Hi 35 

D. Pedro. It is the witness still of excellency^ 
To put a strange face on his own perfection. 
I pray thee, sing, and let me woo no more. 

Baltli. Because you talk of wooing, I will sing; 
Since many a wooer doth commence his suit 53 
To her he thinks not worthy ; yet he woos ; 
Yet will he swear he loves. 

Z). Pedro. Nay, pray thee, come ; 

Or if thou wilt hold longer argument, 56 

Do it in notes. 

Balth. Note this before my notes; 

There's not a note of mine that's worth the 
noting. 

D. Pedro. Why these are very crotchets that 
he speaks; 
Notes, notes, forsooth, and nothing! [Music.'] 

Bene. Now, divine air! now is his soul ra- 
vished ! Is it not strange that sheeps' guts should 
hale souls out of men's bodies ? Well, a horn for 
my money, when all's done. 64 

The Song. 
[Balth.] 

'Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more, 

Men were deceivers ever; 
One foot in sea, and one on shore. 

To one thing constant never. 68 

Then sigh not so. 
But let them go. 
And be you blithe and bonny. 
Converting all your sounds of woe 72 

Into Hey nonny, nonny. 

49,50 Cf.n. 51 woo: entreat 57 notes: music 

59 crotchets; cf. n. 60 Cf. n. 

62 sheeps' guts: i.e. violin strings 



36 Much Ado About Nothing, II, Hi 

'Sing no more ditties^ sing no mo 

Of dumps so dull and heavy; 
The fraud of men was ever so, 76 

Since summer first was leavy. 
Then sigh not so, 
But let them go, 
And be you blithe and bonny, 80 

Converting all your sounds of woe 
Into Hey nonny, nonny.' 

D. Pedro. By my troth, a good song. 

Balth. And an ill singer, my lord. 84 

D. Pedro. Ha, no, no, faith; thou singest well 
enough for a shift. 

Bene. [Aside.] An he had been a dog that should 
have howled thus, they would have hanged him ; 
and I pray God his bad voice bode no mischief. 
I had as lief have heard the night-raven, come 
what plague could have come after it. 91 

D. Pedro. Yea, marry. Dost thou hear, 
Balthazar.^ I pray thee, get us some excellent 
music, for to-morrow night we would have it at 
the Lady Hero's chamber-window. 

Balth. The best I can, my lord. 96 

D.Pedro. Do so: farewell. Ea;it Balthazar. 
Come hither, Leonato: what was it you told me 
of to-day, that your niece Beatrice was in love 
with Signior Benedick? 100 

Claud. O! ay: — [Aside to D. Pedro.] Stalk 
on, stalk on; the fowl sits. I did never think 
that lady would have loved any man. 

Leon. No, nor I neither; but most wonderful 

74 mo: more 75 dum-ps: mournful tunes 77 \ea.vy: leafy 

86 shift: makeshift 90 night-raven; cf. n. 

92 Yea, marry; cf. n. 101 Stalk on, etc.; cf. n. 



Much Ado About Nothing, II, in 37 

that she should so dote on Signior Benedick, 
whom she hath in all outward behaviours 
seemed ever to abhor. 107 

Bene. [Aside.'] Is't possible? Sits the wind in 
that corner? 

Leon. By my troth, my lord, I cannot tell 
what to think of it but that she loves him with 
an enraged affection: it is past the infinite of 
thought. 113 

D. Pedro. May be she doth but counterfeit. 

Claud. Faith, like enough. 

Leon. O God! counterfeit! There was never 
counterfeit of passion came so near the life of 
passion as she discovers it. 

D. Pedro. Why, what effects of passion shows 
she ? 120 

Claud. [Aside.] Bait the hook well: this fish 
will bite. 

Leon. What effects, my lord? She will sit 
you — [To Claudio.] You heard my daughter tell 
you how. 125 

Claud. She did, indeed. 

D. Pedro. How, how, I pray you ? You amaze 
me: I would have thought her spirit had been 
invincible against all assaults of affection. 129 

Leon. I would have sworn it had, my lord; 
especially against Benedick. 

Bene. [Aside.] I should think this a gull, but 
that the white-bearded fellow speaks it: knavery 
cannot, sure, hide itself in such reverence. 

Claud. [Aside.] He hath ta'en the infection: 
hold it up. 136 

112 enraged: /ren^iVrf m^mtt: utmost power 

132 gull: trick 136 hold it up: keep it up 



38 Much Ado About Nothing, II, Hi 

D. Pedro. Hath she made her affection known 
to Benedick? 

Leon. No; and swears she never will: that's 
her torment. ]40 

Claud. 'Tis true, indeed; so your daughter 
says: 'Shall 1/ says she, 'that have so oft en- 
countered him with scorn, write to him that I 
love him?' 144 

Leon. This says she now when she is begin- 
ning to write to him; for she'll be up twenty 
times a night, and there will she sit in her smock 
till she have writ a sheet of paper: my daughter 
tells us all. 149 

Claud. Now you talk of a sheet of paper, I 
remember a pretty jest your daughter told us of. 

Leon. O I when she had writ it, and was read- 
ing it over, she found Benedick and Beatrice be- 
tween the sheet? 

Claud. That. 155 

Leon. O ! she tore the letter into a thousand 
halfpence; railed at herself, that she should be 
so immodest to write to one that she knew would 
flout her: 'I measure him,' says she, 'by my own 
spirit; for I should flout him, if he writ to me; 
yea, though I love him, I should.' I6l 

Claud. Then down upon her knees she falls, 
weeps, sobs, beats her heart, tears her hair, 
prays, curses ; 'O sweet Benedick ! God give me 
patience !' 165 

Leon. She doth indeed; my daughter says 
so; and the ecstasy hath so much overborne her, 
that my daughter is sometimes afeard she will 

147 smock: undergarment 155 That: That was it 

157 halfpence: pieces small as silver halfpence 
167 ecstasy: madness 



Much Ado About Nothing, II, Hi 39 

do a desperate outrage to herself. It is very 
true. 

D. Pedro. It were good that Benedick knew 
of it by some other, if she will not discover it. 172 

Claud. To what end? he would but make a 
sport of it and torment the poor lady worse. 

D. Pedro. An he should, it were an alms to 
hang him. She's an excellent sweet lady, and, 
out of all suspicion, she is virtuous. 177 

Claud. And she is exceeding wise. 

D. Pedro. In everything but in loving Bene- 
dick. 180 

Leon. O ! my lord, wisdom and blood com- 
bating in so tender a body, we have ten proofs to 
one that blood hath the victory. I am sorry for 
her, as I have just cause, being her uncle and 
her guardian. 185 

D. Pedro. I would she had bestowed this 
dotage on me; I would have daffed all other 
respects and made her half myself. I pray you, 
tell Benedick of it, and hear what a' will say. 189 

Leon. Were it good, think you? 

Claud. Hero thinks surely she will die; for 
she says she will die if he love her not, and she 
will die ere she make her love known, and she 
will die if he woo her, rather than she will bate 
one breath of her accustomed crossness. 195 

D.Pedro. She doth well: if she should make 
tender of her love, 'tis very possible he'll scorn 
it; for the man, — as you know all, — hath a con- 
temptible spirit. 

169 outrage: act of violence 175 alms: good deed 

177 out oi: beyond 187 dotage: doting da^ed: put aside 

188 respects: considerations half myself: my wife 

197 tender: offer 198 contemptible: contemptuous 



40 Much Ado About Nothing, II, Hi 

Claud. He is a very proper man. 200 

D. Pedro. He hath indeed a good outward 
happiness. 

Claud. 'Fore God, and in my mind, very wise. 

D. Pedro. He doth indeed show some sparks 
that are like wit. 205 

Leon. And I take him to be valiant. 

D.Pedro. As Hector, I assure you: and in 
the managing of quarrels you may say he is 
wise; for either he avoids them with great dis- 
cretion, or undertakes them with a most Chris- 
tian-like fear. 211 

Leon. If he do fear God, a' must necessarily 
keep peace: if he break the peace, he ought to 
enter into a quarrel with fear and trembling. 

D.Pedro. And so will he do; for the man 
doth fear God, howsoever it seems not in him by 
some large jests he will make. Well, I am sorry 
for your niece. Shall we go seek Benedick, and 
tell him of her love ? 219 

Claud. Never tell him, my lord: let her wear 
it out with good counsel. 

Leon. Nay, that's impossible: she may wear 
her heart out first. 223 

D. Pedro. Well, we will hear further of it by 
your daughter: let it cool the while. I love 
Benedick well, and I could wish he would mo- 
destly examine himself, to see how much he is 
unworthy to have so good a lady. 228 

Leon. My lord, will you walk } dinner is ready. 

Claud. [Aside.] If he do not dote on her upon 
this, I will never trust my expectation. 

200 proper: good-looking 

201 outward happiness: lucky exterior 217 large: broad 
229 walk: go 



Much Ado About Nothing, II, Hi 4i 

D. Pedro. [Aside.] Let there be the same net 
spread for her; and that must your daughter 
and her gentlewoman carry. The sport will be, 
when they hold one an opinion of another's 
dotage, and no such matter: that's the scene 
that I would see, which will be merely a dumb- 
show. Let us send her to call him in to dinner. 238 

Exeunt [all but Benedick]. 

Bene. [Advancing from the arbour.] This can 
be no trick: the conference was sadly borne. 
They have the truth of this from Hero, They 
seem to pity the lady: it seems, her affections 
have their full bent. Love me! why, it must be 
requited. I hear how I am censured: they say I 
will bear myself proudly, if I perceive the love 
come from her ; they say too that she will rather 
die than give any sign of affection. I did never 
think to marry: I must not seem proud: happy 
are they that hear their detractions, and can put 
them to mending. They say the lady is fair: 'tis 
a truth, I can bear them witness; and virtuous: 
'tis so, I cannot reprove it ; and wise, but for lov- 
ing me : by my troth, it is no addition to her wit, 
nor no great argument of her folly, for I will be 
horribly in love with her. I may chance have 
some odd quirks and remnants of wit broken on 
me, because I have railed so long against mar- 
riage; but doth not the appetite alter? A man 
loves the meat in his youth that he cannot en- 

234 carry: carry out 

236 no such matter: nothing of the kind exists 

240 sadly borne: seriously conducted 

243 full bent: extreme tension 

249 put them to mending: profit by them 

252 reprove: disprove 253 addition: honor 256 quirks: /ejfj 



42 Much Ado About Nothing, II, Hi 

dure in his age. Shall quips and sentences and 
these paper bullets of the brain awe a man from 
the career of his humour? No; the world must 
be peopled. When I said I would die a bachelor, 
I did not think I should live till I were married. 
Here comes Beatrice. By this day ! she's a fair 
lady: I do spy some marks of love in her. 266 

Enter Beatrice. 

Beat. Against my will I am sent to bid you 
come in to dinner. 

Bene. Fair Beatrice, I thank you for your 
pains. 270 

Beat. I took no more pains for those thanks 
than you take pains to thank me: if it had been 
painful, I would not have come. 

Bene. You take pleasure then in the message? 

Beat. Yea, just so much as you may take upon 
a knife's point, and choke a daw withal. You 
have no stomach, signior: fare you well. Exit. 

Bene. Ha ! 'Against my will I am sent to bid 
you come in to dinner,' there's a double mean- 
ing in that. 'I took no more pains for those 
thanks than you took pains to thank me,' that's 
as much as to say, Any pains that I take for you 
is as easy as thanks. If I do not take pity of 
her, I am a villain ; if I do not love her, I am a 
Jew. I will go get her picture. Exit. 

260 quips : sarcasms sentences : wise sayings 

261 paper bullets; cf. n. 

276 choke . . -withsA: more than a mouthful for a jackdaw 



Much Ado About Nothing, III, i 43 

ACT THIRD 

Scene One 

[Leonato*s Orchard] 

Enter Hero, Margaret, and Ursula. 

Hero. Good Margaret, run thee to the parlour ; 
There shalt thou find my cousin Beatrice 
Proposing with the prince and Claudio: 
Whisper her ear, and tell her, I and Ursula 4 
Walk in the orchard, and our whole discourse 
Is all of her; say that thou overheard'st us, 
And bid her steal into the pleached bower, 
Where honey-suckles, ripen'd by the sun, s 

Forbid the sun to enter; like favourites. 
Made proud by princes, that advance their pride 
Against that power that bred it. There will she 

hide her. 
To listen our propose. This is thy office; 12 
Bear thee well in it and leave us alone. 

Marg. I'll make her come, I warrant you, 
presently. [Exit.'] 

Hero. Now, Ursula, when Beatrice doth come, 
As we do trace this alley up and down, 16 

Our talk must only be of Benedick: 
When I do name him, let it be thy part 
To praise him more than ever man did merit. 
My talk to thee must be how Benedick 20 

Is sick in love with Beatrice: of this matter 
Is little Cupid's crafty arrow made. 
That only wounds by hearsay. 

3 Proposing: fo/jfetn^r 12 propose: conversation 

16 trace: traverse 23 only . . hearsay: hearsay alone 



44- Much Ado About Nothing, III, i 

Enter Beatrice [into the hower^. 

Now begin ; 
For look where Beatrice, like a lapwing, runs 24 
Close by the ground, to hear our conference. 

Urs. The pleasant'st angling is to see the fish 
Cut with her golden oars the silver stream, 
And greedily devour the treacherous bait: 28 
So angle we for Beatrice; who even now 
Is couched in the woodbine coverture. 
Fear you not my part of the dialogue. 

Hero. Then go we near her, that her ear lose 
nothing 32 

Of the false sweet bait that we lay for it. 

[They advance towards the bower. 1 
No, truly, Ursula, she is too disdainful; 
I know her spirits are as coy and wild 
As haggards of the rock. 

Urs. But are you sure 36 

That Benedick loves Beatrice so entirely? 

Hero. So says the prince, and my new-trothed 
lord. 

Urs. And did they bid you tell her of it, 
madam ? 

Hero. They did entreat me to acquaint her 
of it; 40 

But I persuaded them, if they lov'd Benedick, 
To wish him wrestle with affection. 
And never to let Beatrice know of it. 

Urs. Why did you so.^ Doth not the gentleman 
Deserve as full as fortunate a bed 45 

As ever Beatrice shall couch upon? 

30 woodbine coverture: honeysuckle bower 

36 hapeards: female hawks, grown up in freedom 

45 as full as; cf. n. 



Much Ado About Nothing, III, i 45 

Hero. O god of love ! I know he doth deserve 
As much as may be yielded to a man; 48 

But nature never fram'd a woman's heart 
Of prouder stuff than that of Beatrice; 
Disdain and scorn ride sparkling in her eyes, 
Misprising what they look on, and her wit 52 
Values itself so highly, that to her 
All matter else seems weak. She cannot love 
Nor take no shape nor project of affection, 
She is so self-endear'd. 

Urs. Sure, I think so; 56 

And therefore certainly it were not good 
She knew his love, lest she make sport at it. 
Hero. Why, you speak truth. I never yet 
saw man. 
How wise, how noble, young, how rarely fea- 

tur'd. 
But she would spell him backward: if fair-fac'd, 
She would swear the gentleman should be her 

sister ; 
If black, why. Nature, drawing of an antic. 
Made a foul blot; if tall, a lance ill-headed; 64 
If low, an agate very vilely cut; 
If speaking, why, a vane blown with all winds; 
If silent, why, a block moved with none. 
So turns she every man the wrong side out, 68 
And never gives to truth and virtue that 
Which simpleness and merit purchaseth. 

Urs. Sure, sure, such carping is not com- 
mendable. 

52 Misprising: despising 55 project: ttf^o 

56 self-endear'd: /m// o/^^//-/oz/g 60 How: however 

61 spell . . backward; cf. n. 

63 black: dar^fe antic: grotesque figure 

65 agate: human figure cut cameo-like on agate 

70 purchaseth: deservedly obtain 



46 Much Ado About Nothing, III, i 

Hero. No; not to be so odd and from all 
fashions 72 

As Beatrice is, cannot be commendable. 
But who dare tell her so? If I should speak, 
She would mock me into air: O! she would 

laugh me 
Out of myself, press me to death with wit. 76 
Therefore let Benedick, like cover'd fire. 
Consume away in sighs, waste inwardly: 
It were a better death than die with mocks, 
Which is as bad as die with tickling. 80 

Urs. Yet tell her of it: hear what she will say. 

Hero. No; rather I will go to Benedick, 
And counsel him to fight against his passion. 
And, truly, I'll devise some honest slanders 84 
To stain my cousin with. One doth not know 
How much an ill "si^ord may empoison liking. 

Urs. O ! do not do your cousin such a wrong. 
She cannot be so much without true judgment, — 
Having so swift and excellent a wit 89 

As she is priz'd to have, — as to refuse 
So rare a gentleman as Signior Benedick. 

Hero. He is the only man of Italy, 92 

Always excepted my dear Claudio. 

Urs. I pray you, be not angry with me, 
madam. 
Speaking my fancy: Signior Benedick, 
For shape, for bearing, argument and valour, 96 
Goes foremost in report through Italy. 

Hero. Indeed, he hath an excellent good name. 

Urs. His excellence did earn it, ere he had it. 
When are you married, madam .f* lOO 

72 from: contrary to 84 honest: not injurious to character 

90 priz'd: esteemed 96 argument: power of reason 



Much Ado About Nothing, 1 1 1, a 47 

Hero. Why, every day — to-morrow. Come, 
go in: 
I'll show thee some attires, and have thy counsel 
Which is the best to furnish me to-morrow. 
Urs. [Aside to Hero.] She's lim'd, I warrant 
you: we have caught her, madam. 104 

Hero. [Aside to Urs.] If it prove so, then 
loving goes by haps: 
Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps. 
Exeunt Hero and Ursula. 
Beat. [Advancing.] What fire is in mine ears? 
Can this be true ? 107 

Stand I condemn'd for pride and scorn so 
much ? 
Contempt, farewell ! and maiden pride, adieu ! 

No glory lives behind the back of such. 
And, Benedick, love on ; I will requite thee, 

Taming my wild heart to thy loving hand: 112 
If thou dost love, my kindness shall incite thee 

To bind our loves up in a holy band; 
For others say thou dost deserve, and I 
Believe it better than reportingly. Exit. 

Scene Two 

[Leonato's House?] 

Enter Prince, Claudio, Benedick, and Leonato. 

D. Pedro. I do but stay till your marriage be 
consummate, and then go I toward Arragon. 

Claud. I'll bring you thither, my lord, if you'll 
vouchsafe me. 4 



101 everyday — to-morrow; cf. n. 104 lim'd: snared 

105 haps: chances 110 behind the back; c/. n. 112 Cf.n. 

114 band: bo7id 
116 better , , reportingly : on better evidence than report 



48 Much Ado About Nothing, III, ii 

D. Pedro. Nay, that would be as great a soil 
in the new gloss of your marriage, as to show a 
child his new coat and forbid him to wear it. I 
will only be bold with Benedick for his company; 
for, from the crown of his head to the sole of his 
foot, he is all mirth: he hath twice or thrice cut 
Cupid's bow-string, and the little hangman dare 
not shoot at him. He hath a heart as sound as 
a bell, and his tongue is the clapper; for what 
his heart thinks his tongue speaks. 

Bene. Gallants, I am not as I have been. 

Leon. So say I : methinks you are sadder. 16 

Claud. I hope he be in love. 

D. Pedro. Hang him, truant ! there's no true 
drop of blood in him, to be truly touched with 
love. If he be sad, he wants money. 20 

Bene. I have the tooth-ache. 

D. Pedro. Draw it. 

Bene. Hang it. 

Claud. You must hang it first, and draw it 
afterwards. 25 

D.Pedro. What! sigh for the tooth-ache? 

Leon. Where is but a humour or a worm? 

Bene. Well, every one can master a grief but 
he that has it. 29 

Claud. Yet say I, he is in love. 

D. Pedro. There is no appearance of fancy in 
him, unless it be a fancy that he hath to strange 
disguises ; as, to be a Dutchman to-day, a French- 
man to-morrow, or in the shape of two countries 
at once, as a German from the waist downward, 
all slops, and a Spaniard from the hip upward, 

11 hangman : ro^u^ 24 hang . . draw; cf.n. 

27 worm; cf. n. 31 iancy: love 36 slops: loose breeches 



Much Ado A bout Nothing, III, ii 49 

no doublet. Unless he have a fancy to this 
foolery, as it appears he hath, he is no fool for 
fancy, as you would have it appear he is. 39 

Claud. If he be not in love with some woman, 
there is no believing old signs : a' brushes his hat 
a mornings; what should that bode.'* 

D. Pedro. Hath any man seen him at the 
barber's } 44 

Claud. No, but the barber's man hath been 
seen with him; and the old ornament of his 
cheek hath already stuffed tennis-balls. 

Leon. Indeed he looks younger than he did, 
by the loss of a beard. 49 

D. Pedro. Nay, a' rubs himself with civet : 
can you smell him out by that? 

Claud. That's as much as to say the sweet 
youth's in love. 53 

D. Pedro. The greatest note of it is his melan- 
choly. 

Claud. And when was he wont to wash his 
face ? 57 

D.Pedro. Yea, or to paint himself? for the 
which, I hear what they say of him. 

Claud. Nay, but his jesting spirit; which is 
now crept into a lute-string, and new-governed 
by stops. 

D. Pedro. Indeed, that tells a heavy tale for 
him. Conclude, conclude he is in love. 64 

Claud. Nay, but I know who loves him. 

D. Pedro. That would I know too: I warrant, 
one that knows him not. 

37 no doublet; cf. n. 46 the old ornament, etc.; cf. n. 

50 civet: a perfume 

62 stops: frets, regulating the sound of the lutestring 



50 Much Ado About Nothing, III, ii 

Claud. Yes, and his ill conditions; and in 
despite of all, dies for him. 69 

D. Pedro. She shall be buried with her face 
upwards. 

Bene. Yet is this no charm for the tooth-ache. 
Old signior, walk aside with me: I have studied 
eight or nine wise words to speak to you, which 
these hobby-horses must not hear. 75 

[Exeunt Benedick and Leonato.l 

D. Pedro. For my life, to break with him 
about Beatrice. 

Claud. 'Tis even so. Hero and Margaret have 
by this played their parts with Beatrice, and 
then the two bears will not bite one another 
when they meet. 81 

Enter John the Bastard. 

D. John. My lord and brother, God save you ! 

D. Pedro. Good den, brother. 

D. John. If your leisure served, I would 
speak with you. 85 

D. Pedro. In private ? 

D.John. If it please you; yet Count Claudio 
may hear, for what I would speak of concerns 
him. 89 

D. Pedro. What's the matter ? 

D.John. [To Claudio.] Means your lordship 
to be married to-morrow? 92 

D. Pedro. You know he does. 

D. John. I know not that, when he knows 
what I know. 

68 conditions: cJiaracteristics 70 buried, etc.; cf. n. 

75 hobby-horses; cf. n. 83 Good den: Good eveniing} 

90 Cf. n. 



Much Ado A bout Nothing, III, ii 5 1 

Claud. If there be any impediment, I pray 
you discover it. 97 

D.John. You may think I love you not: let 
that appear hereafter, and aim better at me by 
that I now will manifest. For my brother, I 
think he holds you well, and in dearness of 
heart hath holp to effect your ensuing marriage ; 
surely suit ill spent, and labour ill bestowed! 

D.Pedro. Why, what's the matter? 104 

D.John. I came hither to tell you; and cir- 
cumstances shortened, — for she hath been too 
long a talking of, — the lady is disloyal. 

Claud. Who, Hero? 108 

D.John. Even she: Leonato's Hero, your 
Hero, every man's Hero. 

Claud. Disloyal? 

D. John. The word's too good to paint out 
her wickedness; I could say, she were worse: 
think you of a worse title, and I will fit her to 
it. Wonder not till further warrant : go but with 
me to-night, you shall see her chamber-window 
entered, even the night before her wedding-day: 
if you love her then, to-morrow wed her; but it 
would better fit your honour to change your 
mind. 120 

Claud. May this be so? 

D. Pedro. I will not think it. 

D. John. If you dare not trust that you see, 
confess not that you know. If you will follow 
me, I will show you enough ; and when you have 
seen more and heard more, proceed accordingly. 

99 aim . . at: judge of 

101 holds: esteems dearness: affection 

106 circumstances shortened: cutting short the particulars 

107 a. ta.\\i\ng oi: under discussion 112 paint out: depict 
115 till . . wa.Tra.Vit: till further proof appears 123 that: zv hat 



52 Much Ado About Nothing, III, Hi 

Claud. If I see any thing to-night why I 
should not marry her to-morrow, in the con- 
gregation, where I should wed, there will I 
shame her. 

D. Pedro. And, as I wooed for thee to obtain 
her, I will join with thee to disgrace her. 132 

D. John. I will disparage her no further till 
you are my witnesses: bear it coldly but till 
midnight, and let the issue show itself. 

D.Pedro. O day untowardly turned! 136 

Claud. O mischief strangely thwarting! 

D. John. O plague right well prevented ! So 
will you say when you have seen the sequel. 

Ea:eunt. 

Scene Three 

[A Street] 

Enter Dogberry and his compartner [Verges], 
with the watch. 

Dogb. Are you good men and true? 

Verg. Yea, or else it were pity but they should 
suffer salvation, body and soul. 

Dogb. Nay, that were a punishment too good 
for them, if they should have any allegiance in 
them, being chosen for the prince's watch. 

Verg. Well, give them their charge, neighbour 
Dogberry. 8 

Dogb. First, who think you the most desart- 
less man to be constable? 

First Watch. Hugh Oatcake, sir, or George 
Seacoal; for they can write and read. 12 

136 untowardly turned: unluckily altered 

Sc. iii., S. d. watch: night watchmen 

3 salvation: i.e. damnation 9 dcsartlcss: i.e. deserving 



Much Ado A hout Nothing, III, Hi 53 

Dogb. Come hither, neighbour Seacoal. God 
hath blessed you with a good name: to be a 
well-favoured man is the gift of fortune; but to 
write and read comes by nature. 16 

Sec. Watch. Both which, Master constable, — 

Dogb. You have: I knew it would be your 
answer. Well, for your favour, sir, why, give God 
thanks, and make no boast of it; and for your 
writing and reading, let that appear when there 
is no need of such vanity. You are thought here 
to be the most senseless and fit man for the con- 
stable of the watch ; therefore bear you the lant- 
ern. This is your charge: you shall comprehend 
all vagrom men; you are to bid any man stand, 
in the prince's name. 

Watch. How, if a will not stand? 28 

Dogb. Why, then, take no note of him, but let 
him go ; and presently call the rest of the watch 
together, and thank God you are rid of a knave. 

Verg. If he will not stand when he is bidden, 
he is none of the prince's subjects. 33 

Dogb. True, and they are to meddle with none 
but the prince's subjects. You shall also make 
no noise in the streets: for, for the watch to 
babble and to talk is most tolerable and not to 
be endured. 

Sec. Watch. We will rather sleep than talk: 
we know what belongs to a watch. 40 

Dogb. Why, you speak like an ancient and 
most quiet watchman, for I cannot see how 
sleeping should offend; only have a care that 
your bills be not stolen. Well, you are to call 

IS well-iavouTed: good-looking 

25 comprehend: i.e. apprehend 

26 vagrom: vagrant 40 belongs to: befits 44 hills: pikes 



54 Much Ado About Nothing, HI, Hi 

at all the alehouses, and bid those that are 
drunk get them to bed. 46 

Watch. How if they will not? 

Dogb. Why then, let them alone till they are 
sober: if they make you not then the better 
answer, you may say they are not the men you 
took them for. 

Watch. Well, sir. 52 

Dogb. If you meet a thief, you may suspect 
him, by virtue of your office, to be no true man ; 
and, for such kind of men, the less you meddle 
or make with them, why, the more is for your 
honesty. 57 

Sec. Watch. If we know him to be a thief, 
shall we not lay hands on him.'* 

Dogb. Truly, by your office, you may; but I 
think they that touch pitch will be defiled. The 
most peaceable way for you, if you do take a 
thief, is, to let him show himself what he is and 
steal out of your company. 64 

Verg. You have been always called a merciful 
man, partner. 

Dogb. Truly, I would not hang a dog by my will, 
much more a man who hath any honesty in him. 

Verg. If you hear a child cry in the night, 
you must call to the nurse and bid her still it. 

Sec. Watch. How if the nurse be asleep and 
will not hear us ? 72 

Dogb. Why, then, depart in peace, and let the 
child wake her with crying ; for the ewe that will 
not hear her lamb when it baes, will never an- 
swer a calf when he bleats. 76 

Verg. 'Tis very true. 

54 true: honest 56 meddle or make: Jwve to do is: (it) is 



Much Ado About Nothing, III, Hi 55 

Dogb. This is the end of the charge. You, 
constable, are to present the prince's own per- 
son: if you meet the prince in the night, you 
may stay him. 81 

Verg. Nay, by 'r lady, that I think, a' cannot. 

Dogb. Five shillings to one on 't, with any 
man that knows the statues, he may stay him: 
marry, not without the prince be willing; for, 
indeed, the watch ought to offend no man, and 
it is an offence to stay a man against his will. 

Verg. By 'r lady, I think it be so. 88 

Dogb. Ha, ah, ha! Well, masters, good night: 
an there be any matter of weight chances, call 
up me: keep your fellows' counsels and your 
own, and good night. Come, neighbour, 92 

Sec. Watch. Well, masters, we hear our charge: 
let us go sit here upon the church-bench till two, 
and then all go to bed. 

Dogb. One word more, honest neighbours. I 
pray you, watch about Signior Leonato's door; 
for the wedding being there to-morrow, there is 
a great coil to-night. Adieu; be vigitant, I be- 
seech you. Exeunt [Dogberry and Verges]. 

Enter Borachio and Conrade. 

Bora. What, Conrade ! lOl 

Watch. [Aside.] Peace! stir not. 
Bora. Conrade, I say! 

Con. Here, man, I am at thy elbow. 104 

Bora. Mass, and my elbow itched; I thought 
there would a scab follow. 

79 present: represent _ 84 statues: i.e. statutes 

94 church-bench: bench outside the church 

99 coil: bustle vigitant: i.e. vigilant 

105 Mass: by the Mass! 106 scab; cf. n. 



56 Much Ado About Nothing, III, in 

Con. I will owe thee an answer for that; and 
now forward with thy tale. 108 

Bora. Stand thee close then under this pent- 
house^ for it drizzles rain^ and I will, like a true 
drunkard, utter all to thee. 

Watch. [Aside.'] Some treason, masters; yet 
stand close. 113 

Bora. Therefore know, I have earned of Don 
John a thousand ducats. 

Con. Is it possible that any villainy should be 
so dear.** 117 

Bora. Thou shouldst rather ask if it were 
possible any villainy should be so rich ; for when 
rich villains have need of poor ones, poor ones 
may make what price they will. 121 

Con. I wonder at it. 

Bora. That shows thou art unconfirmed. 
Thou knowest that the fashion of a doublet, or 
a hat, or a cloak, is nothing to a man. 125 

Con. Yes, it is apparel. 

Bora. I mean, the fashion. 

Con. Yes, the fashion is the fashion. 128 

Bora. Tush ! I may as well say the fool's the 
fool. But seest thou not what a deformed thief 
this fashion is? 

Watch. [Aside.'] I know that Deformed; a' 
has been a vile thief this seven years; a' goes 
up and down like a gentleman: I remember his 
name. 135 

Bora. Didst thou not hear somebody .'^ 

Con. No: 'twas the vane on the house. 

Bora. Seest thou not, I say, what a deformed 

109 p&n\.-h.QViS^: projecting roof 
113 st2inA c\os,t: keep concealed 
123 unconfirmed: inexperienced 



Much Ado About Nothing, III, Hi 57 

thief this fashion is ? how giddily he turns about 
all the hot bloods between fourteen and five-and- 
thirty? sometime fashioning them like Pharaoh's 
soldiers in the reechy painting; sometime like 
god Bel's priests in the old church-window; 
sometime like the shaven Hercules in the 
smirched worm-eaten tapestry, where his cod- 
piece seems as massy as his club? 146 

Con. All this I see, and I see that the fashion 
wears out more apparel than the man. But art 
not thou thyself giddy with the fashion too, that 
thou hast shifted out of thy tale into telling me 
of the fashion? 151 

Bora. Not so, neither; but know, that I have 
to-night wooed Margaret, the Lady Hero's gentle- 
woman, by the name of Hero: she leans me out 
at her mistress' chamber-window, bids me a 
thousand times good night, — I tell this tale vile- 
ly: — I should first tell thee how the prince, 
Claudio, and my master, planted and placed 
and possessed by my master Don John, saw afar 
off in the orchard this amiable encounter. 160 

Con. And thought they Margaret was Hero? 

Bora. Two of them did, the prince and Clau- 
dio; but the devil my master, knew she was 
Margaret; and partly by his oaths, which first 
possessed them, partly by the dark night, which 
did deceive them, but chiefly by my villainy, 
which did confirm any slander that Don John 
had made, away went Claudio enraged; swore 
he would meet her, as he was appointed, next 
morning at the temple, and there, before the 

142 reechy: dirty, stained with smoke 143 Bel's priests; cf. n. 

145 cod-piece : part of Elizabethan breeches 

147 the fashion, ^fc; c/. n. 159 possessed: tn^w^nc^cf 



58 Much Ado About Nothing, III, iv 

whole congregation, shame her with what he 
saw o'er night, and send her home again with- 
out a husband. 173 

First Watch. We charge you in the prince's 
name, stand! 

Sec. Watch. Call up the right Master con- 
stable. We have here recovered the most dan- 
gerous piece of lechery that ever was known in 
the commonwealth. 

First Watch. And one Deformed is one of 
them: I know him, a' wears a lock. 181 

Con. Masters, masters ! 

Sec. Watch. You'll be made bring Deformed 
forth, I warrant you. 184 

Con. Masters, — 

First Watch. Never speak: we charge you 
let us obey you to go with us. 

Bora. We are like to prove a goodly com- 
modity, being taken up of these men's bills. 189 

Con. A commodity in question, I warrant 
you. Come, we'll obey you. Exeunt. 

Scene Four 

[Hero's Apartment] 

Enter Hero, Margaret, and Ursula. 

Hero. Good Ursula, wake my cousin Beatrice, 
and desire her to rise. 
Urs. I will, lady. 

Hero. And bid her come hither. 4 

Urs. Well. [Ea:it.] 

176 right Master; cf. n. 177 recovered: i.e. discovered 

181 lock: love-lock (of hair) 188 commodity; cf. n. 

190 in question: subject to trial 



Much Ado About Nothing, III, iv ^9 

Marg. Troth, I think your other rabato were 
better. 

Hero. No, pray thee, good Meg, I'll wear this. 

Marg. By my troth's not so good; and I 
warrant your cousin will say so. 

Hero. My cousin's a fool, and thou art 
another: I'll wear none but this. 12 

Marg. I like the new tire within excellently, 
if the hair were a thought browner; and your 
gown's a most rare fashion, i' faith. I saw the 
Duchess of Milan's gown that they praise so. 16 

Hero. O ! that exceeds, they say. 

Marg. By my troth's but a night-gown in 
respect of yours: cloth o' gold, and cuts, and 
laced with silver, set with pearls, down sleeves, 
side sleeves, and skirts round, underborne with 
a bluish tinsel; but for a fine, quaint, graceful, 
and excellent fashion, yours is worth ten on 't. 

Hero. God give me joy to wear it! for my 
heart is exceeding heavy. 25 

Marg. 'Twill be heavier soon by the weight of 
a man. 

Hero. Fie upon thee ! art not ashamed ? 28 

Marg. Of what, lady? of speaking honour- 
ably? is not marriage honourable in a beggar? 
Is not your lord honourable without marriage? 
I think you would have me say, 'saving your 
reverence, a husband:' an bad thinking do not 
wrest true speaking, I'll offend nobody. Is there 

6 vdihvito: stiff collar 9 troth's: i.e. ^ro^/j, t^ tj 

13 tire: headdress within; cf. n. 

18 ni%ht-go\^n:' tea-gozvn' in respect oi: compared zvifh 

19 cuts: slashed openings, shozving the fabric underneath 

20 laced: trimmed down sleeves: tight-fitting sleeves (?) 

21 side sleeves: long outer sleeves, open from the shoulder 
underborne: lined 

32 saving your reverence; cf. n. 34 wrest: distort 



60 Much Ado About Nothing, III, iv 

any harm in 'the heavier for a husband?' None, 
I think, an it be the right husband and the right 
wife; otherwise 'tis light, and not heavy: ask 
my Lady Beatrice else; here she comes. 

Enter Beatrice. 

Hero. Good morrow, coz. 

Beat. Good morrow, sweet Hero. 40 

Hero. Why, how now ! do you speak in the 
sick tune? 

Beat. I am out of all other tune, methinks. 

Marg. Clap's into 'Light o' love;' that goes 
without a burden: do you sing it, and I'll dance it. 

Beat. Ye light o' love with your heels ! then, 
if your husband have stables enough, you'll 
see he shall lack no barns. 48 

Marg. O illegitimate construction! I scorn 
that with my heels. 

Beat. 'Tis almost five o'clock, cousin; 'tis 
time you were ready. By my troth, I am ex- 
ceeding ill. Heigh-ho ! 53 

Marg. For a hawk, a horse, or a husband? 

Beat. For the letter that begins them all, H. 

Marg. Well, an you be not turned Turk, 
there's no more sailing by the star. 57 

Beat. What means the fool, trow? 

Marg. Nothing I; but God send every one 
their heart's desire! 60 

Hero. These gloves the count sent me; they 
are an excellent perfume. 

37 Wght: wanton (pun) 42 sick tune: tone of an invalid 

44 'Light o' love': a popular song 

45 burden: bass accompaniment 
48 barns: pun on bairns, children 
SO with my heels: as if by kicking 

55 H: pronounced much like 'ache' 

56 turned Turk: become renegade 58 trow: (do you) think? 



Much Ado About Nothing, III, iv 6i 

Beat. I am stuffed, cousin, I cannot smell. 

Marg. A maid, and stuffed! there's goodly 
catching of cold. 65 

Beat. O, God help me ! God help me ! how 
long have you professed apprehension } 

Marg. Ever since you left it. Doth not my 
wit become me rarely ! 69 

Beat. It is not seen enough, you should wear 
it in your cap. By my troth, I am sick. 

Marg. Get you some of this distilled Carduus 
Benedictus, and lay it to your heart: it is the 
only thing for a qualm. 

Hero. There thou prick'st her with a thistle. 

Beat. Benedictus ! why Benedictus ? you have 
some moral in this Benedictus. 77 

Marg. Moral ! no, by my troth, I have no moral 
meaning; I meant, plain holy-thistle. You may 
think, perchance, that I think you are in love: 
nay, by'r lady, I am not such a fool to think 
what I list; nor I list not to think what I can; 
nor, indeed, I cannot think, if I would think my 
heart out of thinking, that you are in love, or 
that you will be in love, or that you can be in 
love. Yet Benedick was such another, and now 
is he become a man: he swore he would never 
marry; and yet now, in despite of his heart, he 
eats his meat without grudging: and how you 
may be converted, I know not; but methinks 
you look with your eyes as other women do. 

Beat. What pace is this that thy tongue 
keeps } 93 

Marg. Not a false gallop. 

67 professed apprehension : made wit your profession 
72 Carduus Benedictus: holy thistle, used in medicine 
77 moraX: hidden meaning 82 \\st: like 94 false gallop: confer 



62 Much Ado About Nothing, III, v 

Enter Ursula. 

Urs. Madam, withdraw : the prince, the count, 
Signior Benedick, Don John, and all the gallants 
of the town, are come to fetch you to church. 97 

Hero. Help to dress me, good coz, good Meg, 
good Ursula. [Exeunt.] 

Scene Five 

[Another Room in Leonato's House] 

Enter Leonato and the Constable [Dogberry], 
and the Headborough [Verges]. 

Leon. What would you with me, honest 
neighbour ? 

Dogb. Marry, sir, I would have some confi- 
dence with you, that decerns you nearly. 4 

Leon. Brief, I pray you; for you see it is a 
busy time with me. 

Dogb. Marry, this it is, sir. 

Verg. Yes, in truth it is, sir. 8 

Leon. What is it, my good friends ? 

Dogb. Goodman Verges, sir, speaks a little off 
the matter: an old man, sir, and his wits are not 
so blunt, as, God help, I would desire they were ; 
but, in faith, honest as the skin between his 
brows. 

Verg. Yes, I thank God, I am as honest as 
any man living, that is an old man and no 
honester than I. 17 

Dogb. Comparisons are odorous: palabras, 
neighbour Verges. 

Sc. v., S. d. Headborough: petty constable 

3 conMence: i.e. conference 4 decerns: i.e. concerns 

10 Goodman: yeoman; a rustic title 

18 odorous: i.e. odious palabras; cf. n. 



Much Ado About Nothing, III, v 63 

Leon. Neighbours, you are tedious. 20 

Dogb. It pleases your worship to say so, but 
we are the poor duke's officers; but truly, for 
mine own part, if I were as tedious as a king, I 
could find in my heart to bestow it all of your 
worship. 25 

Leon. All thy tediousness on me! ha? 

Dogb. Yea, an 't were a thousand pound more 
than 'tis; for I hear as good exclamation on 
your worship, as of any man in the city, and 
though I be but a poor man, I am glad to hear it. 

Verg. And so am I. 31 

Leon. I would fain know what you have to say. 

Verg. Marry, sir, our watch to-night, except- 
ing your worship's presence, ha' ta'en a couple 
of as arrant knaves as any in Messina. 35 

Dogb. A good old man, sir; he will be talking: 
as they say, 'when the age is in, the wit is out.' 
God help us ! it is a world to see ! Well said, 
i' faith, neighbour Verges: well, God's a good 
man ; an two men ride of a horse, one must ride 
behind. An honest soul, i' faith, sir; by my 
troth he is, as ever broke bread: but God is to be 
worshipped: all men are not alike; alas! good 
neighbour. 44 

Leon. Indeed, neighbour, he comes too short 
of you. 

Dogb. Gifts that God gives. 

Leon. I must leave you. 48 

Dogb. One word, sir: our watch, sir, hath in- 
deed comprehended two aspicious persons, and 

22 poor duke's: i.e. duke's poor 24 of: on 

28 exclamation: t.^_. acc/amoito« (?) 33 to-night: /o^^ nt^/i* 

37 when the age is in, etc.; cf. n. 38 a world: a wonder 

39 God's a good man ; cf. n. 50 aspicious: i.e. suspicious 



64 Much Ado About Nothing, IV, i 

we would have them this morning examined 

before your worship. 52 

Leon. Take their examination yourself, and 

bring it me: I am now in great haste, as may 

appear unto you. 

Dogb. It shall be suffigance. 56 

Leon. Drink some wine ere you go: fare you 

well. 

[Enter a Messenger.] 

Mess. My lord, they stay for you to give your 
daughter to her husband. 60 

Leon. I'll wait upon them: I am ready. 

[Exeunt Leonato and Messenger."] 

Dogb. Go, good partner, go, get you to Francis 
Seacoal; bid him bring his pen and inkhorn to 
the gaol: we are now to examination these men. 

Verg. And we must do it wisely. 65 

Dogb. We will spare for no wit, I warrant 
you; here's that shall drive some of them to a 
non-come: only get the learned writer to set 
down our excommunication, and meet me at 
the gaol. Exeunt. 

ACT FOURTH 

Scene One 

[Within a Church] 

Enter Prince, Bastard, Leonato, Friar [Fran- 
cis], Claudio, Benedick, Hero, and Bea- 
trice. 
Leon. Come, Friar Francis, be brief: only to 

56 sufhgance: i.e. sufficient 61 wait upon: offend 

68 non-come; cf. n. 

69 excommunication: i.e. examination or communication 



Much Ado About Nothing, IV, i 65 

the plain form of marriage, and you shall re- 
count their particular duties afterwards. 

Friar. You come hither, my lord, to marry 
this lady? 5 

Claud. No. 

Leon. To be married to her, friar; you come 
to marry her. 8 

Friar. Lady, you come hither to be married 
to this count? 

Hero. I do. 

Friar. If either of you know any inward 
impediment, why you should not be conjoined, 
I charge you, on your souls, to utter it. 

Claud. Know you any. Hero? 

Hero. None, my lord. 16 

Friar. Know you any, count? 

Leon. I dare make his answer; none. 

Claud. O ! what men dare do ! what men may 
do ! what men daily do, not knowing what they do ! 

Bene. How now ! Interjections? Why then, 
some be of laughing, as ah ! ha ! he ! 

Claud. Stand thee by, friar. Father, by your 
leave : 
Will you with free and unconstrained soul 24 
Give me this maid, your daughter? 

Leon. As freely, son, as God did give her me. 

Claud. And what have I to give you back 
whose worth 
May counterpoise this rich and precious gift ? 28 

D. Pedro. Nothing, unless you render her 
again. 

22 some . . laughing, e^c; c/. n. 28 counterpoise: fco/oncff 

29 render : give back 



6Q Much Ado About Nothing, IV, i 

Claud. Sweet prince^ you learn me noble 
thankfulness. 
There, Leonato, take her back again: 
Give not this rotten orange to your friend; 32 
She's but the sign and semblance of her honour. 
Behold ! how like a maid she blushes here. 
O ! what authority and show of truth 
Can cunning sin cover itself withal. 36 

Comes not that blood as modest evidence 
To witness simple virtue .^^ Would you not swear. 
All you that see her, that she were a maid, 
By these exterior shows? But she is none: 40 
She knows the heat of a luxurious bed; 
Her blush is guiltiness, not modesty. 

Leon. What do you mean, my lord? 

Claud. Not to be married. 

Not to knit my soul to an approved wanton. 44 

Leon. Dear my lord, if you, in your own proof, 
Have vanquish'd the resistance of her youth. 
And made defeat of her virginity, — 

Claud. I know what you would say: if I have 
known her, 48 

You'll say she did embrace me as a husband, 
And so extenuate the 'forehand sin: 
No, Leonato, 

I never tempted her with word too large; 52 
But, as a brother to his sister, show'd 
Bashful sincerity and comely love. 

Hero. And seem'd I ever otherwise to you? 

Claud. Out on thee ! Seeming ! I will write 
against it: 56 

You seem to me as Dian in her orb, 

35 authority: authenticity 41 luxurious: lustful 

45 in your own proof; cf. n. 50 'forehand sin: sin of over-haste 
57 Dian in her orb: the chaste Diana, enthroned in the moon 



3Iuch Ado A bout Nothing, IV, i 67 

As chaste as is the bud ere it be blown; 
But you are more intemperate in your blood 
Than Venus, or those pamper'd animals 60 

That rage in savage sensuality. 

Hero. Is my lord well, that he doth speak so 

wide? 
Leon. Sweet prince, why speak not you? 
D.Pedro. What should I speak? 

I stand dishonour'd, that have gone about 64 
To link my dear friend to a common stale. 

Leon. Are these things spoken, or do I but 

dream ? 
D. John. Sir, they are spoken, and these 
things are true. 68 

Bene. This looks not like a nuptial. 
Hero. True! O God! 

Claud. Leonato, stand I here? 
Is this the prince? Is this the prince's brother? 
Is this face Hero's ? Are our eyes our own ? 72 
Leon. All this is so ; but what of this, my lord? 
Claud. Let me but move one question to your 
daughter ; 
And by that fatherly and kindly power 
That you have in her, bid her answer truly. 76 
Leon. I charge thee do so, as thou art my 

child. 
Hero. O, God defend me ! how am I beset ! 
What kind of catechizing call you this? 

Claud. To make you answer truly to your 

name. ^^ 

Hero. Is it not Hero? Who can blot that 



62 wide: wide of the mark, incorrectly 69 True! cf. n. 

75 kindly: natural 



68 Much Ado About Nothing, IV, i 

With any just reproach? 

Claud. Marry, that can Hero: 

Hero itself can blot out Hero's virtue. 
What man was he talk'd with you yesternight 84 
Out at your window, betwixt twelve and one? 
Now, if you are a maid, answer to this. 

Hero. I talk'd with no man at that hour, my 

lord. 
D. Pedro. Why, then are you no maiden. 
Leonato, 88 

I am sorry you must hear: upon mine honour. 
Myself, my brother, and this grieved count, 
Did see her, hear her, at that hour last night. 
Talk with a ruffian at her chamber-window ; 92 
Who hath indeed, most like a liberal villain 
Confess'd the vile encounters they have had 
A thousand times in secret. 

D. John. Fie, fie ! they are not to be nam'd, 
my lord, 96 

Not to be spoke of; 

There is not chastity enough in language 
Without offence to utter them. Thus, pretty lady, 
I am sorry for thy much misgovernment. lOO 
Claud. O Hero ! what a Hero hadst thou been. 
If half thy outward graces had been plac'd 
About thy thoughts and counsels of thy heart ! 
But fare thee well, most foul, most fair ! fare- 
well. 
Thou pure impiety, and impious purity ! 105 

For thee I'll lock up all the gates of love. 
And on my eyelids shall conjecture hang, 

83 Hero itself, eic; c/. n. 93 liberal: gross 

100 much misgovernment: great misconduct 
107 conjecture: suspicion 



Much Ado About Nothing, IV, i 69 

To turn all beauty into thoughts of harm, 108 
And never shall it more be gracious. 

Leon. Hath no man's dagger here a point 
for me? [Hero swoons."] 

Beat. Why, how now, cousin! wherefore sink 
you down? 

D. John. Come, let us go. These things, 
come thus to light, 112 

Smother her spirits up. 

[Exeunt Don Pedro, Don John and Claudio.] 

Bene. How doth the lady? 

Beat. Dead, I think ! help, uncle ! 

Hero ! why. Hero ! Uncle ! Signior Benedick ! 
Friar ! 116 

Leon. O Fate ! take not away thy heavy hand : 
Death is the fairest cover for her shame 
That may be wish'd for. 

Beat. How now, cousin Hero ! 

Friar. Have comfort, lady. 120 

Leon. Dost thou look up? 

Friar. Yea; wherefore should she not? 

Leon. Wherefore ! Why, doth not every earthly 
thing 
Cry shame upon her? Could she here deny 
The story that is printed in her blood? 124 

Do not live. Hero; do not ope thine eyes; 
For, did I think thou wouldst not quickly die. 
Thought I thy spirits were stronger than thy 

shames, 
Myself would, on the rearward of reproaches, 128 
Strike at thy life. Griev'd I, I had but one? 
Chid I for that at frugal nature's frame? 

109 gracious: attractive 

128 on the rearward of: following after 

130 frame: established order 



70 Much Ado About Nothing, IV, i 

O ! one too much by thee. Why had I one ? 
Why ever wast thou lovely in mine eyes ? 132 
Why had I not with charitable hand 
Took up a beggar's issue at my gates, 
Who smirched thus, and mir'd with infamy, 
I might have said, 'No part of it is mine; 136 
This shame derives itself from unknown loins?' 
But mine, and mine I lov'd, and mine I prais'd. 
And mine that I was proud on, mine so much 
That I myself was to myself not mine, 140 

Valuing of her ; why, she — O ! she is fallen 
Into a pit of ink, that the wide sea 
Hath drops too few to wash her clean again. 
And salt too little which may season give 144 
To her foul-tainted flesh. 

Bene. Sir, sir, be patient. 

For my part, I am so attir'd in wonder, 
I know not what to say. 

Beat. O! on my soul, my cousin is belied! 

Bene. Lady, were you her bedfellow last night? 

Beat. No, truly, not; although, until last 
night, 
I have this twelvemonth been her bedfellow. 

Leon. Confirm'd, confirm'd ! O ! that is 
stronger made, 152 

Which was before barr'd up with ribs of iron. 
Would the two princes lie? and Claudio lie. 
Who lov'd her so, that, speaking of her foulness, 
Wash'd it with tears? Hence from her! let 
her die. 156 

Friar. Hear me a little; 
For I have only been silent so long, 

140 Cf. n. 141 Valuing: when estimating the value 

142 ihdit: so that 144 season: jaz;or 146 attiv' A: wrapped up 



Much Ado About Nothing, IV, i 7i 

And given way unto this course of fortune, 
By noting of the lady: I have mark'd 160 

A thousand blushing apparitions 
To start into her face; a thousand innocent 

shames 
In angel whiteness bear away those blushes; 
And in her eye there hath appear'd a fire, 164 
To burn the errors that these princes hold 
Against her maiden truth. Call me a fool; 
Trust not my reading nor my observations, 
Which with experimental seal doth warrant 168 
The tenour of my book ; trust not my age, 
My reverence, calling, nor divinity, 
If this sweet lady lie not guiltless here 
Under some biting error. 

Leon. Friar, it cannot be. 172 

Thou seest that all the grace that she hath left 
Is, that she will not add to her damnation 
A sin of perjury: she not denies it. 
Why seek'st thou then to cover with excuse 176 
That which appears in proper nakedness? 

Friar. Lady, what man is he you are ac- 
cused of? 

Hero. They know that do accuse me, I know 
none; 
If I know more of any man alive 180 

Than that which maiden modesty doth warrant, 
Let all my sins lack mercy ! O, my father ! 
Prove you that any man with me convers'd 
At hours unmeet, or that I yesternight 184 

Maintain'd the change of words with any crea- 
ture, 

168 ^yL^^rim^nXaX stz\: seal of experience 169 book; c/. n. 

185 change: exchange 



72 Much Ado About Nothing, IV, i 

Refuse me, hate me, torture me to death. 

Friar. There is some strange misprision in 

the princes. 
Bene. Two of them have the very bent of 

honour ; 188 

And if their wisdoms be misled in this, 
The practice of it lives in John the bastard. 
Whose spirits toil in frame of villainies. 

Leon. I know not. If they speak but truth 

of her, 192 

These hands shall tear her; if they wrong her 

honour, 
The proudest of them shall well hear of it. 
Time hath not yet so dried this blood of mine, 
Nor age so eat up my invention, 196 

Nor fortune made such havoc of my means. 
Nor my bad life reft me so much of friends. 
But they shall find, awak'd in such a kind. 
Both strength of limb and policy of mind, 200 
Ability in means and choice of friends. 
To quit me of them throughly. 

Friar. Pause awhile, 

And let my counsel sway you in this case. 
Your daughter here the princes left for dead; 
Let her awhile be secretly kept in, 205 

And publish it that she is dead indeed: 
Maintain a mourning ostentation; 
And on your family's old monument 208 

Hang mournful epitaphs and do all rites 
That appertain unto a burial. 

187 misprision: misunderstanding 

188 hent: naturalinclination 190 practice: trickery 
191 frame: contrivance 196 invention: power of mind 
199 kind: manner 202 quit . . of: avenge . . on 
205 secretly kept in: kept hidden 

207 mourning ostentation: show of mourning 



Much Ado About Nothing, IV, i 73 

Leon, What shall become of this? What will 

this do? 
Friar. Marry, this well carried shall on her 

behalf 212 

Change slander to remorse; that is some good: 
But not for that dream I on this strange course, 
But on this travail look for greater birth. 
She dying, as it must be so maintain'd, 216 

Upon the instant that she was accus'd. 
Shall be lamented, pitied and excus'd 
Of every hearer; for it so falls out 
That what we have we prize not to the worth 
Whiles we enjoy it, but being lack'd and lost, 
Why, then we rack the value, then we find 222 
The virtue that possession would not show us 
Whiles it was ours. So will it fare with Claudio: 
When he shall hear she died upon his words. 
The idea of her life shall sweetly creep 
Into his study of imagination, 
And every lovely organ of her life 228 

Shall come apparell'd in more precious habit, 
More moving-delicate, and full of life 
Into the eye and prospect of his soul, 
Than when she liv'd indeed: then shall he 

mourn, — 232 

If ever love had interest in his liver, — 
And wish he had not so accused her. 
No, though he thought his accusation true. 
Let this be so, and doubt not but success 236 

Will fashion the event in better shape 
Than I can lay it down in likelihood. 

222 rack: stretch 227 study of imagination: imaginative study 

228 organ : faculty 229 habit : dress 

230 moving-delicate: touchingly delicate 231 prospect: view 

233 liver: supposed seat of love 236 success: the result 

238 lay . . likelihood: conjecture 



74 Much Ado About Nothing, IV, i 

But if all aim but this be levell'd false^ 

The supposition of the lady's death 240 

Will quench the wonder of her infamy: 

And if it sort not well, you may conceal her, — 

As best befits her wounded reputation, — 

In some reclusive and religious life, 244 

Out of all eyes, tongues, minds and injuries. 

Bene. Signior Leonato,let the friar advise you: 
And though you know my inwardness and love 
Is very much unto the prince and Claudio, 248 
Yet, by mine honour, I will deal in this 
As secretly and justly as your soul 
Should with your body. 

Leon. Being that I flow in grief. 

The smallest twine may lead me. 252 

Friar. 'Tis well consented: presently away; 
For to strange sores strangely they strain the 

cure. 
Come, lady, die to live : this wedding day 
Perhaps is but prolonged: have patience and 
endure. 

Exit [with Leonato and Hero.] 

Bene. Lady Beatrice, have you wept all this 
while } 

Beat. Yea, and I will weep a while longer. 

Bene. I will not desire that. 260 

Beat. You have no reason ; I do it freely. 

Bene. Surely I do believe your fair cousin is 
wronged. 

Beat. Ah! how much might the man deserve 
of me that would right her. 265 

239 Cf. 11. 242 sort: turn out 244 reclusive: secluded 

245 injuries: tn^u/f J 247 inwardness: tw^imacy 

251 How in: overflowwith 254 Cf. n. 
256 prolong'd: postponed 



Much Ado About Nothing, IV, i 75 

Bene. Is there any way to show such friend- 
ship? 

Beat. A very even way, but no such friend. 

Bene. May a man do it? 269 

Beat. It is a man's office, but not yours. 

Bene. I do love nothing in the world so well 
as you: is not that strange? 272 

Beat. As strange as the thing I know not. 
It were as possible for me to say I loved nothing 
so well as you ; but believe me not, and yet I lie 
not; I confess nothing, nor I deny nothing. I 
am sorry for my cousin. 277 

Bene. By my sword, Beatrice, thou lovest me. 

Beat. Do not swear by it, and eat it. 

Bene. I will swear by it that you love me; 
and I will make him eat it that says I love 
not you. 

Beat. Will you not eat your word ? 

Bene. With no sauce that can be devised to 
it. I protest I love thee. 285 

Beat. Why then, God forgive me ! 

Bene. What offence, sweet Beatrice? 

Beat. You have stayed me in a happy hour: 
I was about to protest I loved you. 289 

Bene. And do it with all thy heart. 

Beat. I love you with so much of my heart 
that none is left to protest. 292 

Bene. Come, bid me do anything for thee. 

Beat. Kill Claudio. 

Bene. Ha ! not for the wide world. 

Beat. You kill me to deny it. Farewell. 296 

Bene. Tarry, sweet Beatrice. 

268 even: smooth, easy 



76 Much Ado About Nothing, IV, i 

Beat. I am gone, though I am here: there is 
no love in you : nay, I pray you, let me go. 

Bene. Beatrice, — 300 

Beat. In faith, I will go. 

Bene. We'll be friends first. 

Beat. You dare easier be friends with me 
than fight with mine enemy. 304 

Bene. Is Claudio thine enemy? 

Beat. Is he not approved in the height a 
villain, that hath slandered, scorned, dishonour- 
ed my kinswoman ? O ! that I were a man. 
What ! bear her in hand until they come to take 
hands, and then, with public accusation, un- 
covered slander, unmitigated rancour, — O God, 
that I were a man ! I would eat his heart in the 
market-place. 313 

Bene. Hear me, Beatrice, — 

Beat. Talk with a man out at a window ! a 
proper saying! 316 

Bene. Nay, but Beatrice, — 

Beat. Sv/eet Hero ! she is wronged, she is 
slandered, she is undone. 

Bene. Beat — 320 

Beat. Princes and counties ! Surely, a princely 
testimony, a goodly Count Comfect; a sweet 
gallant, surely ! O ! that I were a man for his 
sake, or that I had any friend would be a man 
for my sake ! But manhood is melted into 
curtsies, valour into compliment, and men are 
only turned into tongue, and trim ones too: he 
is now as valiant as Hercules, that only tells a 
lie and swears it. I cannot be a man with wish- 

298 gone: absent in spirit 306 height: highest degree 

309 bear . . in hand: delude 310 uncovered: open 

321 counti&s: counts 322 Comi^ct: sweetmeat 



Much Ado About Nothing, IV, ii 77 

ing, therefore I will die a woman with grieving. 

Bene. Tarry, good Beatrice. By this hand, 
I love thee. 332 

Beat. Use it for my love some other way than 
swearing by it. 

Bene. Think you in your soul the Count 
Claudio hath wronged Hero.^* 336 

Beat. Yea, as sure as I have a thought or 
a soul. 

Bene. Enough ! I am engaged, I will challenge 
him. I will kiss your hand, and so leave you. 
By this hand, Claudio shall render me a dear 
account. As you hear of me, so think of me. 
Go, comfort your cousin: I must say she is 
dead; and so, farewell. [Exeunt.'] 

Scene Two 

[A Prison] 

Enter the Constables [Dogberry and Verges] 
and the Town ClerJc [Sexton] in gowns, 
[with the Watch, Conrade and] Borachio. 

Dogb. Is our whole dissembly appeared? 

Verg. O ! a stool and a cushion for the 
sexton. 

Sexton. Which be the malefactors? 4 

Dogb. Marry, that am I and my partner. 

Verg. Nay, that's certain: we have the exhi- 
bition to examine. 

Sexton. But which are the offenders that are 
to be examined? lej them come before Master 
constable. 

Sc. ii; cf. n. 1 dissembly: i.e. assembly 5 Dogb.; cf. n. 

6 exhibition: i.e. commission (?) 



78 Much Ado About Nothing, IF, ii 

Dogb. Yea, marry, let them come before me. 
What is your name, friend? 12 

Bora. Borachio. 

Dogb. Pray write down Borachio. Yours, 
sirrah ? 

Con. I am a gentleman, sir, and my name is 
Conrade. 

Dogb. Write down Master gentleman Con- 
rade. Masters, do you serve God? 

_, * f Yea, sir, we hope. 20 

Bora, f 

Dogb. Write down that they hope they serve 
God: and write God first; for God defend but 
God should go before such villains ! Masters, it 
is proved already that you are little better than 
false knaves, and it will go near to be thought so 
shortly. How answer you for yourselves ? 26 

Con. Marry, sir, we say we are none. 

Dogb. A marvellous witty fellow, I assure 
you; but I will go about with him. Come you 
hither, sirrah; a word in your ear: sir, I say to 
you, it is thought you are false knaves. 

Bora. Sir, I say to you we are none. 32 

Dogb. Well, stand aside. 'Fore God, they are 
both in a tale. Have you writ down, that they 
are none? 

Sexton. Master constable, you go not the 
way to examine: you must call forth the watch 
that are their accusers. 38 

Dogb. Yea, marry, that's the eftest way. Let 
the watch come forth. Masters, I charge you, in 
the prince's name, accuse these men. 

25 go near to: almost 28 witty: cunning 

29 go about with: circumvent 

34 in a tale: agreed on one story 39 eftest: quickest (?) 



Much Ado About Nothing, IV, ii 79 

First Watch. This man said^ sir, that Don 
John, the prince's brother, was a villain. 43 

Dogb. Write down Prince John a villain. 
Why, this is flat perjury, to call a prince's 
brother villain. 

Bora. Master constable, — 

Dogb. Pray thee, fellow, peace: I do not like 
thy look, I promise thee. 

Sexton. What heard you him say else? 50 

Sec. Watch. Marry, that he had received a 
thousand ducats of Don John for accusing the 
Lady Hero wrongfully. 

Dogb. Flat burglary as ever was committed. 

Verg. Yea, by the mass, that it is. 

Sexton. What else, fellow.? 56 

First Watch. And that Count Claudio did 
mean, upon his words, to disgrace Hero before 
the whole assembly, and not marry her. 

Dogb. O villain ! thou wilt be condemned into 
everlasting redemption for this. 61 

Sexton. What else.? 

Sec. Watch. This is all. 

Sexton. And this is more, masters, than you 
can deny. Prince John is this morning secretly 
stolen away: Hero was in this manner accused, 
in this very manner refused, and, upon the grief 
of this, suddenly died. Master constable, let 
these men be bound, and brought to Leonato's: 
I will go before and show him their examina- 
tion. [Exit.] 

Dogb. Come, let them be opinioned. 72 

Verg. Let them be in the hands — 

Con. Off, coxcomb ! 

72 opinioned: i.e. piniotied 73,74 Cf.n. 



80 Much Ado About Nothing, V, i 

Dogb. God's my life! where's the sexton? let 
him write down the prince's officer coxcomb. 
Come^ bind them. Thou naughty varlet ! 77 

Con. Away ! you are an ass ; you are an ass. 

Dogh. Dost thou not suspect my place? 
Dost thou not suspect my years? O that he 
were here to write me down an ass ! but, 
masters, remember that I am an ass ; though it 
be not written down, yet forget not that I am an 
ass. No, thou villain, thou art full of piety, as 
shall be proved upon thee by good witness. I 
am a wise fellow ; and, which is more, an officer ; 
and, which is more, a householder; and, which 
is more, as pretty a piece of flesh as any in Mes- 
sina; and one that knows the law, go to; and a 
rich fellow enough, go to; and a fellow that 
hath had losses; and one that hath two gowns, 
and everything handsome about him. Bring him 
away. O that I had been writ down an ass ! 93 

Ea;eunt. 

ACT FIFTH 

Scene One 

[Before Leonato's House. '\ 

Enter Leonato and his brother [Antonio]. 

Ant. If you go on thus, you will kill yourself; 
And 'tis not wisdom thus to second grief 
Against yourself. 

Leon. I pray thee, cease thy counsel, 

77 naughty: good-for-nanght 79 suspect: i.e. respect 

84 piety: i.e. impiety 

87 householder: head of a household 

88 as pretty . . fiesh: as fine a fellow 2 second: aj^i^i 



Much Ado About Nothing, V,i 8i 

Which falls into mine ears as profitless 4 

As water in a sieve: give not me counsel; 
Nor let no comforter delight mine ear 
But such a one whose wrongs do suit with mine: 
Bring me a father that so lov'd his child, 8 

Whose joy of her is overwhelm'd like mine. 
And bid him speak of patience; 
Measure his woe the length and breadth of mine, 
And let it answer every strain for strain, 12 

As thus for thus and such a grief for such. 
In every lineament, branch, shape, and form: 
If such a one will smile, and stroke his beard; 
Bid sorrow wag, cry 'hem' when he should 

groan, 16 

Patch grief with proverbs; make misfortune 

drunk 
With candle-wasters ; bring him yet to me. 
And I of him will gather patience. 
But there is no such man ; for, brother, men 20 
Can counsel and speak comfort to that grief 
Which they themselves not feel; but, tasting it, 
Their counsel turns to passion, which before 
Would give preceptial medicine to rage, 24 

Fetter strong madness in a silken thread. 
Charm ache with air and agony with words. 
No, no; 'tis all men's office to speak patience 
To those that wring under the load of sorrow, 28 
But no man's virtue nor sufficiency 
To be so moral when he shall endure 
The like himself. Therefore give me no counsel: 
My griefs cry louder than advertisement. 32 

7 suit: agree 12 strain: strong feeling 16 wag: pass on; cf. n. 

18 candle-wasters: sleepless revellers or students 

24 preceptial: made up of precepts 

26 air: mere breath 28 wring: writhe 

20 moral: full of wisdom 32 advertisement: atfwc^ 



82 Much Ado About Nothing, V , i 

Ant. Therein do men from children nothing 

differ. 
Leon. I pray thee, peace ! I will be flesh and 
blood ; 
For there was never yet philosopher 
That could endure the toothache patiently, 36 
However they have writ the style of gods 
And made a push at chance and sufferance. 
Ant. Yet bend not all the harm upon your- 
self; 
Make those that do offend you suffer too. 40 

Leon. There thou speak'st reason: nay, I will 
do so. 
My soul doth tell me Hero is belied; 
And that shall Claudio know; so shall the 

prince, 
And all of them that thus dishonour her. 44 

Ant. Here come the prince and Claudio 
hastily. 

Enter Prince and Claudio. 

D. Pedro. Good den, good den. 

Claud. Good day to both of you. 

Leon. Hear you, my lords, — 

D. Pedro. We have some haste, Leonato. 

Leon. Some haste, my lord ! well, fare you 
well, my lord: 48 

Are you so hasty now? — well, all is one. 

D. Pedro. Nay, do not quarrel with us, good 
old man. 

Ant. If he could right himself with quar- 
relling, 

37 style of: language worthy of 

38 push; cf. n. sufferance: suffering 
49 all is one: 'tis all the same 



31ucli Ado About Nothing, V, i 83 

Some of us would lie low. 

Claud. Who wrongs him? 52 

Leon. Marry, thou dost wrong me; thou dis- 
sembler, thou. 
Nay, never lay thy hand upon thy sword-; 
I fear thee not. 

Claud. Marry, beshrew my hand. 

If it should give your age such case of fear. 56 
In faith, my hand meant nothing to my sword. 

Leon. Tush, tush, man! never fleer and jest 
at me: 
I speak not like a dotard nor a fool. 
As, under privilege of age, to brag 60 

What I have done being young, or what would do. 
Were I not old. Know, Claudio, to thy head. 
Thou hast so wrong'd mine innocent child and me 
That I am forc'd to lay my reverence by, 64 

And, with grey hairs and bruise of many days, 
Do challenge thee to trial of a man. 
I say thou hast belied mine innocent child : 
Thy slander hath gone through and through her 
heart, 68 

And she lies buried with her ancestors ; 
O ! in a tomb where never scandal slept. 
Save this of hers, fram'd by thy villainy ! 

Claud. My villainy? 

Leon. Thine, Claudio; thine, I say. 72 

D. Pedro. You say not right, old man. 

Leon. My lord, my lord, 

I'll prove it on his body, if he dare. 
Despite his nice fence and his active practice, 
His May of youth and bloom of lustihood. 76 

55 beshrew: curse 58 fleer: sneer 

62 to thy head: to thy face 75 fence: skill in fencing 

76 lustihood: vigor 



84 Much Ado About Nothing, V, i 

Claud. Away ! I will not have to do with you. 

Leon. Canst thou so daff me? Thou hast 
kill'd my child; 
If thou kill'st me, boy, thou shalt kill a man. 

Ant. He shall kill two of us, and men indeed: 
But that's no matter; let him kill one first: 81 
Win me and wear me ; let him answer me. 
Come, follow me, boy; come, sir boy, come, fol- 
low me. 
Sir boy, I'll whip you from your foining fence; 
Nay, as I am a gentleman, I will. 85 

Leon. Brother, — 

Ant. Content yourself. God knows I lov'd 
my niece; 
And she is dead, slander'd to death by villains. 
That dare as well answer a man indeed 89 

As I dare take a serpent by the tongue. 
Boys, apes, braggarts. Jacks, milksops ! 

Leon. Brother Antony, — 

Ant. Hold you content. What, man! I know 

them, yea, 92 

And what they weigh, even to the utmost 

scruple, 
Scambling, out-facing, fashion-monging boys. 
That lie and cog and flout, deprave and slander. 
Go anticly, show outward hideousness, 96 

And speak off half a dozen dangerous words. 
How they might hurt their enemies,if they durst; 
And this is all ! 

Leon. But, brother Antony, — 

Ant. Come, 'tis no matter: 100 

82 Win me, etc.; cf. n. 84 foining: thrusting 

94 Scambling: contentious out-facing: swaggering 

95 cog: cheat deprave: vilify 

96 anticly: dressed like clowns 



Much Ado About Nothing, V,i 85 

Do not you meddle, let me deal in this. 

Z). Pedro. Gentlemen both, we will not wake 
your patience. 
My heart is sorry for your daughter's death; 
But, on my honour, she was charg'd with no- 
thing 104 
But what was true and very full of proof. 
Leon. My lord, my lord — 
D. Pedro. I will not hear you. 
Leon. No? 
Come, brother, away. I will be heard. — 

Ant. And shall, or some of us will smart for 
it. Exeunt Leonato and Antonio. 

Enter Benedick. 

D. Pedro. See, see ; here comes the man we 
went to seek. 

Claud. Now, signior, what news? 

Bene. Good day, my lord. 112 

D.Pedro. Welcome, signior: you are almost 
come to part almost a fray. 

Claud. We had like to have had our two 
noses snapped off with two old men without 
teeth. 117 

D. Pedro. Leonato and his brother. What 
thinkest thou? Had we fought, I doubt we 
should have been too young for them. 120 

Bene. In a false quarrel there is no true 
valour. I came to seek you both. 

Claud. We have been up and down to seek 
thee; for we are high-proof melancholy, and 
would fain have it beaten away. Wilt thou use 
thy wit? 126 

102 wake your patience ; cf. n. 

124 high-proof: in the highest degree 



86 Much Ado About Nothing, V, i 

Bene. It is in my scabbard; shall I draw it? 

D. Pedro. Dost thou wear thy wit by thy 
side? 

Claud. Never any did so^ though very many 
have been beside their wit. I will bid thee draw, 
as we do the minstrels ; draw, to pleasure us. 132 

D. Pedro. As I am an honest man, he looks 
pale. Art thou sick, or angry ? 

Claud. What, courage, man ! What though 
care killed a cat, thou hast mettle enough in 
thee to kill care. 137 

Bene. Sir, I shall meet your wit in the career, 
an you. charge it against me. I pray you choose 
another subject. 140 

Claud. Nay then, give him another staff: 
this last was broke cross. 

D. Pedro. By this light, he changes more and 
more: I think he be angry indeed. 144 

Claud. If he be, he knows how to turn his 
girdle. 

Bene. Shall I speak a word in your ear? 

Claud. God bless me from a challenge ! 148 

Bene. [Aside to Claudio.] You are a villain; 
I jest not: I will make it good how you dare, 
with what you dare, and when you dare. Do me 
right, or I will protest your cowardice. You 
have killed a sweet lady, and her death shall 
fall heavy on you. Let me hear from you. 

Claud. Well I will meet you, so I may have 
good cheer. 156 

D.Pedro. What, a feast, a feast? 

131 beside their wit: out of their wits draw; cf. n. 

138 in the career: at full speed 

139 charge: direct 141 sta.fi: lance 142 broke cross; c/. n. 
145 turn his girdle; cf. n. 

151 'Do me right: give nic satisfaction 152 protest: /'roc/aim 



Much Ado About Nothing, V, i 87 

Claud. I' faith^ I thank him; he hath bid me 
to a calf's-head and a capon, the which if I do 
not carve most curiously, say my knife's naught. 
Shall I not find a woodcock too? 161 

Bene. Sir, your wit ambles well ; it goes 
easily. 

D. Pedro. I'll tell thee how Beatrice praised 
thy wit the other day. I said, thou hadst a fine 
wit. 'True,' says she, 'a fine little one.' 'No,' 
said I, 'a great wit.' 'Right,' said she, 'a great 
gross one.' 'Nay,' said I, 'a good wit.' 'Just,' 
said she, 'it hurts nobody.' 'Nay,' said I, 'the 
gentlemen is wise.' 'Certain,' said she, 'a wise 
gentleman.' 'Nay,' said I, 'he hath the tongues.' 
'That I believe,' said she, 'for he swore a thing 
to me on Monday night, which he forswore on 
Tuesday morning: there's a double tongue; 
there's two tongues.' Thus did she, an hour 
together, trans-shape thy particular virtues ; yet 
at last she concluded with a sigh, thou wast the 
properest man in Italy. 178 

Claud. For the which she wept heartily and 
said she cared not. 

D.Pedro. Yea, that she did; but yet, for all 
that, an if she did not hate him deadly, she 
would love him dearly. The old man's daughter 
told us all. 184 

Claud. All, all; and moreover, God saw him 
when he was hid in the garden. 

D. Pedro. But when shall we set the sa- 
vage bull's horns on the sensible Benedick's 
head ? 189 

160 curiously: daintily naught: zvorthless 

161 woodcock: a stupid bird 

170 a wise gentleman; c/. n. 176 trans-shape: c^uforf 



88 Much Ado About Nothing, V , i 

Claud. Yea, and text underneath, 'Here 
dwells Benedick the married man!' 191 

Bene. Fare you well, boy: you know my 
mind. I will leave you now to your gossip-like 
humour: you break jests as braggarts do their 
blades, which, God be thanked, hurt not. My 
lord,f or your many courtesies I thank you : I must 
discontinue your company. Your brother the 
bastard is fled from Messina: you have, among 
you, killed a sweet and innocent lady. For my 
Lord Lack-beard there, he and I shall meet ; and 
till then, peace be with him. [Exit.'\ 

D. Pedro. He is in earnest. 

Claud. In most profound earnest; and, I'll 
warrant you, for the love of Beatrice. 204 

D.Pedro. And hath challenged thee? 

Claud. Most sincerely. 

D. Pedro. What a pretty thing man is when 
he goes in his doublet and hose and leaves off 
his wit! 209 

Claud. He is then a giant to an ape ; but then 
is an ape a doctor to such a man. 

D.Pedro. But, soft you; let me be: pluck 
up, my heart, and be sad! Did he not say my 
brother was fled? 214 

Enter Constable [Dogberry, Verges, and Watch, 
with'] Conrade and Borachio. 

Dogb. Come, you, sir: if justice cannot tame 
you, she shall ne'er weigh more reasons in her 
balance. Nay, an you be a cursing hypocrite 
once, you must be looked to. 

208 leaves off his wit; cf. n. 211 doctor: learned man; cf. n. 

212 soft you: gently I pluck up: rouse thyself 



Much Ado About Nothing, V, i 89 

D. Pedro. How now ! two of my brother's 
men bound ! Borachio, one ! 220 

Claud. Hearken after their offence, my lord. 

D. Pedro. Officers, what offence have these 
men done? 

Dogb. Marry, sir, they have committed false 
report; moreover, they have spoken untruths; 
secondarily, they are slanders ; sixth and lastly, 
they have belied a lady; thirdly, they have 
verified unjust things; and to conclude, they 
are lying knaves. 229 

D. Pedro. First, I ask thee what they have 
done; thirdly, I ask thee what's their offence; 
sixth and lastly, why they are committed; and, 
to conclude, what you lay to their charge? 

Claud. Rightly reasoned, and in his own 
division; and, by my troth, there's one meaning 
well suited. 236 

D. Pedro. Who have you offended, masters, 
that you are thus bound to your answer? this 
learned constable is too cunning to be under- 
stood. What's your offence? 240 

Bora. Sweet prince, let me go no further 
to mine answer: do you hear me, and let this 
count kill me. I have deceived even your very 
eyes: what your wisdoms could not discover, 
these shallow fools have brought to light; who, 
in the night overheard me confessing to this 
man how Don John your brother incensed me 
to slander the Lady Hero ; how you were brought 
into the orchard and saw me court Margaret 

221 Hearken after : inquire into 226 slanders: i.e. slanderers 
228 verified: i.e. testified 236 well suited; cf. n. 

238 to your answer: to answer for your conduct 
247 incensed: instigated 



90 Much Ado About Nothing, V, i 

in Hero's garments ; how you disgraced her^ 
when you should marry her. My villainy they 
have upon record; which I had rather seal with 
my death than repeat over to my shame. The 
lady is dead upon mine and my master's false 
accusation; and^ briefly, I desire nothing but 
the reward of a villain. 256 

D. Pedro. Runs not this speech like iron 

through your blood? 
Claud. I have drunk poison whiles he ut- 

ter'd it. 
D. Pedro. But did my brother set thee on 

to this? 
Bora. Yea; and paid me richly for the prac- 
tice of it. 260 
D. Pedro. He is compos'd and fram'd of 
treachery: 
And fled he is upon this villainy. 

Claud. Sweet Hero ! now thy image doth 
appear 
In the rare semblance that I lov'd it first. 264 
Dogb. Come, bring away the plaintiffs: by 
this time our sexton hath reformed Signior 
Leonato of the matter. And masters, do not 
forget to specify, when time and place shall 
serve, that I am an ass. 269 

Verg. Here, here comes Master Signior Leo- 
nato, and the sexton too. 

Enter Leonato [, Antonio, and the Sea;ton^. 

Leon. Which is the villain? Let me see his 
eyes, 272 

265 plaintiffs: i.e. defendants 266 Tciormed: i.e. informed 

268 specify: i.e. testify (?) 



Much Ado About Nothing, V,i 9i 

That, when I note another man like him, 
I may avoid him. Which of these is he? 

Bora. If you would know your wronger, look 
on me. 

Leon. Art thou the slave that with thy breath 
hast kiird 276 

Mine innocent child? 

Bora. Yea, even I alone. 

Leon. No, not so, villain; thou beliest thy- 
self: 
Here stand a pair of honourable men ; 
A third is fled, that had a hand in it. 280 

I thank you, princes, for my daughter's death: 
Record it with your high and worthy deeds. 
'Twas bravely done, if you bethink you of it. 

Claud. I know not how to pray your pa- 
tience ; 284 
Yet I must speak. Choose your revenge your- 
self ; 
Impose me to what penance your invention 
Can lay upon my sin: yet sinn'd I not 
But in mistaking. 

D.Pedro. By my soul, nor I: 288 

And yet, to satisfy this good old man, 
I would bend under any heavy weight 
That he'll enjoin me to. 

Leon. I cannot bid you bid my daughter 
live ; 292 

That were impossible: but, I pray you both, 
Possess the people in Messina here 
How innocent she died; and if your love 
Can labour aught in sad invention, 296 

Hang her an epitaph upon her tomb, 

286 Impose: subject 294 Possess: j«/orm 



92 Much Ado About Nothing, V, i 

And sing it to her bones : sing it to-night. 
To-morrow morning come you to my house, 
And since you could not be my son-in-law, 300 
Be yet my nephew. My brother hath a daughter, 
Almost the copy of my child that's dead. 
And she alone is heir to both of us: 
Give her the right you should have given her 
cousin, 304 

And so dies my revenge. 

Claud. O noble sir. 

Your over-kindness doth wring tears from me ! 
I do embrace your offer; and dispose 
For henceforth of poor Claudio. 308 

Leon. To-morrow then I will expect your 
coming ; 
To-night I take my leave. This naughty man 
Shall face to face be brought to Margaret, 
Who, I believe, was pack'd in all this wrong, 312 
Hir'd to it by your brother. 

Bora. No, by my soul she was not; 

Nor knew not what she did when she spoke 

to me; 
But always hath been just and virtuous 
In anything that I do know by her. 316 

Dogb. Moreover, sir, — which, indeed, is not 
under white and black, — this plaintiff here, the 
offender, did call me ass: I beseech you, let it 
be remembered in his punishment. And also, 
the watch heard them talk of one Deformed: 
they say he wears a key in his ear and a lock 
hanging by it, and borrows money in God's 
name, the which he hath used so long and never 

312 pack'd: implicated 

316 hy: concerning 318 under black and white: in wnViM^ 



Much Ado About Nothing, V , i 93 

paid, that now men grow hard-hearted, and will 
lend nothing for God's sake. Pray you, examine 
him upon that point. 327 

Leon. I thank thee for thy care and honest 
pains. 

Dogb. Your worship speaks like a most 
thankful and reverend youth, and I praise God 
for you. 332 

Leon. There's for thy pains. 

Dogb. God save the foundation! 

Leon. Go, I discharge thee of thy prisoner, 
and I thank thee. 336 

Dogb. I leave an arrant knave with your 
worship; which I beseech your worship to cor- 
rect yourself, for the example of others. God 
keep your worship ! I wish your worship well ; 
God restore you to health ! I humbly give you 
leave to depart, and if a merry meeting may be 
wished, God prohibit it ! Come, neighbour. 343 

Exeunt [Dogberry and Verges']. 

Leon. Until to-morrow morning, lords, fare- 
well. 

Ant. Farewell, my lords: we look for you 
to-morrow. 

D. Pedro. We will not fail. 

Claud. To-night I'll mourn with Hero. 

[Exeunt Don Pedro and Claudio.'] 

Leon. [To the Watch.] Bring you these fel- 
lows on. We'll talk with Margaret, 347 
How her acquaintance grew with this lewd 
fellow. Exeunt. 

334 foundation; cf. n. 343 prohibit: i.e. permit (?) 



94 Wluch Ado About Nothing, V, ii 

Scene Two 

[Leonato's Orchard.] 

Enter Benedick and Margaret. 

Bene. Pray thee, sweet Mistress Margaret, 
deserve well at my hands by helping me to the 
speech of Beatrice. 

Marg. Will you then write me a sonnet in 
praise of my beauty? 5 

Bene. In so high a style, Margaret, that no 
man living shall come over it; for, in most 
comely truth, thou deservest it. 8 

Marg. To have no man come over me! why, 
shall I always keep below stairs? 

Bene. Thy wit is as quick as the greyhound's 
mouth; it catches. 12 

Marg. And yours as blunt as the fencer's 
foils, which hit, but hurt not. 

Bene. A most manly wit, Margaret; it will 
not hurt a woman: and so, I pray thee, call 
Beatrice. I give thee the bucklers. 17 

Marg. Give us the swords, we have bucklers 
of our own. 

Bene. If you use them, Margaret, you must 
put in the pikes with a vice; and they are 
dangerous weapons for maids. 

Marg. Well, I will call Beatrice to you, who I 
think hath legs. 24 

Bene. And therefore will come. 

Exit Margaret. 

6 style; cf. n. 10 keep below stairs: remain a servant 

17 give . . hucklers: yield 21 vice; c/. «, 



Much Ado About Nothing, V , ii 95 

'The god of love. 
That sits above, 
And knows me, and knows me, 28 

How pitiful I deserve, — ' 

I mean, in singing; but in loving, Leander the 
good swimmer, Troilus the first employer of 
pandars, and a whole book full of these quondam 
carpet-mongers, whose names yet run smoothly 
in the even road of a blank verse, why, they were 
never so truly turned over and over as my poor 
self, in love. Marry, I cannot show it in rime ; I 
have tried: I can find out no rime to 'lady' but 
'baby,' an innocent rime; for 'scorn,' 'horn,' 
a hard rime; for 'school,' 'fool,' a babbling 
rime; very ominous endings: no, I was not born 
under a riming planet, nor I cannot woo in 
festival terms. 42 

Enter Beatrice. 

Sweet Beatrice, wouldst thou come when I called 
thee? 

Beat, Yea, signior; and depart when you 
bid me. 

Bene. O, stay but till then! 47 

Beat. 'Then' is spoken; fare you well now: 
and yet, ere I go, let me go with that I came for ; 
which is, with knowing what hath passed be- 
tween you and Claudio. 51 

Bene. Only foul words ; and thereupon I will 
kiss thee. 

Beat. Foul words is but foul wind, and foul 

30, 31 Leander . . Troilus: cf. n. 

32 quondam carpet-mongers: carpet-knights of old 

38 innocent: jt7/y 41 riming planet; c/. n. 

42 festival terms: language not used every day 



96 Much Ado About Nothing, V, ii 

wind is but foul breath, and foul breath is noi- 
some; therefore I will depart unkissed. 56 

Bene. Thou hast frighted the word out of his 
right sense, so forcible is thy wit. But I must 
tell thee plainly, Claudio undergoes my chal- 
lenge, and either I must shortly hear from him, 
or I will subscribe him a coward. And, I pray 
thee now, tell me, for which of my bad parts 
didst thou first fall in love with me ? 63 

Beat. For them all together; which main- 
tained so politic a state of evil that they will not 
admit any good part to intermingle with them. 
But for which of my good parts did you first 
suffer love for me.^^ 68 

Bene. 'Suffer love,' a good epithet ! I do 
suffer love indeed, for I love thee against my 
will. 

Beat. In spite of your heart, I think. Alas, 
poor heart ! If you spite it for my sake, I will 
spite it for yours; for I will never love that 
which my friend hates. 75 

Bene. Thou and I are too wise to woo peace- 
ably. 

Beat. It appears not in this confession: 
there's not one wise man among twenty that 
will praise himself. 80 

Bene. An old, an old instance, Beatrice, that 
lived in the time of good neighbours. If a man 
do not erect in this age his own tomb ere he 
dies, he shall live no longer in monument than 
the bell rings and the widow weeps. 85 

57 his: its 59 undergoes: is subject to (?) 

61 subscribe: wWfg down 65 politic: prudently governed 

81 instance: saying (?) 82 time of good neighbours; cf. n. 



Much Ado About Nothing, V, ii 97 

Beat. And how long is that, think you? 86 

Bene. Question: why, an hour in clamour 
and a quarter in rheum: therefore it is most 
expedient for the wise, — if Don Worm, his con- 
science, find no impediment to the contrary, — 
to be the trumpet of his own virtues, as I am to 
myself. So much for praising myself, who, I 
myself will bear witness, is praiseworthy. And 
now tell me, how doth your cousin.'' 

Beat. Very ill. 

Bene. And how do you ? 96 

Beat. Very ill too. 

Bene. Serve God, love me, and mend. There 
will I leave you too, for here comes one in 
haste. 100 

Enter Ursula. 

Urs. Madam, you must come to your uncle. 
Yonder's old coil at home : it is proved, my Lady 
Hero hath been falsely accused, the prince and 
Claudio mightily abused; and Don John is the 
author of all, who is fled and gone. Will you 
come presently? 106 

Beat. Will you go hear this news, signior? 

Bene. I will live in thy heart, die in thy lap, 
and be buried in thy eyes ; and moreover I will 
go with thee to thy uncle's. Exeunt. 

87 Question: that is the question clamour: i.e. sound of the 
bell 

88 rheum: tears 89 Don Worm; cf. n. 
98 mend: recover health 102 old coil: o great ado 
104 abused: deceived 



98 Much Ado About Nothing, V , in 

Scene Three 

[Within the Church^ 

Enter Claudio, Prince, and three or four 
with tapers. 

Claud. Is this the monument of Leonato? 
A Lord. It is, my lord. 

[Claud., reading the'\ Epitaph. 

'Done to death by slanderous tongues 
Was the Hero that here lies: 4 

Deathj in guerdon of her wrongs, 
Gives her fame which never dies. 

So the life that died with shame 

Lives in death with glorious fame.' 8 

Hang thou there upon the tomb. 
Praising her when I am dumb. 
Now, music, sound, and sing your solemn hymn. 

Song. 

'Pardon, goddess of the night, 12 

Those that slew thy virgin knight; 
For the which, with songs of woe. 
Round about her tomb they go. 

Midnight, assist our moan; 16 

Help us to sigh and groan. 

Heavily, heavily: 

Graves, yawn and yield your dead. 

Till death be uttered, 20 

Heavily, heavily.' 

Claud. Now, unto thy bones good night! 
Yearly will I do this rite. 

9, 10 Cf. n. 20 uttered; cf. n. 



Much Ado About Nothing, V , iv 99 

D. Pedro. Good morrow, masters : put your 
torches out. 24 

The wolves have prey'd; and look, the gentle 
day, 
Before the wheels of Phoebus, round about 

Dapples the drowsy east with spots of grey. 
Thanks to you all, and leave us: fare you well. 
Claud. Good morrow, masters: each his se- 
veral way. 29 
D. Pedro. Come, let us hence, and put on 
other weeds; 
And then to Leonato's we will go. 
Claud. And Hymen now with luckier issue 
speed's, 32 
Than this for whom we render'd up this woe ! 

Ea;eunt. 

Scene Four 

[Leonato's Housel 

Enter Leonato, Antonio, Benedick, [Beatrice,'] 
Margaret, Ursula, Friar and Hero. 

Friar. Did I not tell you she was innocent? 

Leon. So are the prince and Claudio, who 
accus'd her 
Upon the error that you heard debated: 
But Margaret was in some fault for this, 4 

Although against her will, as it appears 
In the true course of all the question. 

Ant. Well,I am glad that all things sort so well. 

25 have prey'd : have ceased to prey {night is over) 
30 weeds: garments 

32 luckier issue: better fortune speed's: grant us help 

33 this; cf. n. 

3 debated: discussed 6 In the true course, etc.; cf. n. 



100 , Much Ado About Nothing, V, iv 

Bene. And so am I, being else by faith enfore'd 
To call young Claudio to a reckoning for it. 9 

Leon. Welljdaughter, and you gentlewomen all, 
Withdraw into a chamber by yourselves, 
And when I send for you, come hither, mask'd: 
The prince and Claudio promis'd by this hour 
To visit me. Exeunt ladies. 

You know your office, brother; 
You must be father to your brother's daughter. 
And give her to young Claudio. 16 

Ant. Which I will do with confirm'd coun- 
tenance. 

Bene. Friar, I must entreat your pains, I think. 

Friar. To do what, signior? 

Bene. To bind me, or undo me; one of them. 
Signior Leonato, truth it is, good signior, 21 

Your niece regards me with an eye of favour. 

Leon. That eye my daughter lent her: 'tis 
most true. 

Bene. And I do with an eye of love requite her. 

Leon. The sight whereof I think, you had 
from me, 25 

From Claudio, and the prince. But what's your 
will? 

Bene. Your answer, sir, is enigmatical: 
But, for my will, my will is your good will 28 
May stand with ours, this day to be conjoin'd 
In the state of honourable marriage: 
In which, good friar, I shall desire your help. 

Leon. My heart is with your liking. 

Friar. And my help. 32 

Here come the prince and Claudio. 

8 by faith: by my pledged word 17 confirm'd: steady 

20 undo: (1) unbind, (2) ruin 



Much Ado About Nothing, V , iv loi 

Enter Prince and Claudio, with Attendants. 

D. Pedro, Good morrow to this fair assembly. 
Leon. Good morrow^ prince; good morrow, 
Claudio: 
We here attend you. Are you yet determin'd 
To-day to marry with my brother's daughter ? 37 
Claud. I'll hold my mind, were she an Ethiop. 
Leon. Call her forth, brother : here's the friar 
ready. [Exit Antonio.^ 

D. Pedro. Good morrow, Benedick. Why, 
what's the matter, 40 

That you have such a February face, 
So full of frost, of storm and cloudiness? 

Claud. I think he thinks upon the savage bull. 
Tush ! fear not,man, we'll tip thy horns with gold. 
And all Europa shall rejoice at thee, 45 

As once Europa did at lusty Jove, 
When he would play the noble beast in love. 

Bene. Bull Jove, sir, had an amiable low: 48 
And some such strange bull leap'd your father's 

cow, 
And got a calf in that same noble feat. 
Much like to you, for you have just his bleat. 
Claud. For this I owe you: here come other 
reckonings. 52 

Enter Antonio [with] Hero, Beatrice, Margaret, 
Ursula [masked]. 

Which is the lady I must seize upon ? 

Ant. This same is she, and I do give you her. 
Claud. Why, then she's mine. Sweet, let me 
see your face. 

43 Cf.n. 

45, 46 Europa; cf. n. 52 owe you: i.e. owe you an answer 



102 Much Ado About Nothing, V, iv 

Leon. No, that you shall not, till you take her 
hand 56 

Before this friar, and swear to marry her. 

Claud. Give me your hand: before this holy 
friar, 
I am your husband, if you like of me. 

Hero. And when I liv'd, I was your other wife : 

[Unmasking. "] 

And when you lov'd, you were my other hus- 
band. 61 

Claud. Another Hero ! 

Hero. Nothing certainer 

One Hero died defil'd, but I do live. 
And surely as I live, I am a maid. 64 

D.Pedro. The former Hero ! Hero that is dead ! 

Leon. She died, my lord, but whiles her slan- 
der liv'd. 

Friar. All this amazement can I qualify: 
When after that the holy rites are ended, 68 
I'll tell you largely of fair Hero's death: 
Meantime, let wonder seem familiar. 
And to the chapel let us presently. 

Bene. Soft and fair, friar. Which is Beatrice? 

Beat. [Unmasking.'] I answer to that name. 
What is your will? 73 

Bene. Do not you love me? 

Beat. Why, no; no more than reason. 

Bene. Why, then, your uncle and the prince 
and Claudio 
Have been deceived; for they swore you did. 76 

Beat. Do not you love me? 

Bene. Troth, no; no more than reason. 

59 Wk&oi: care for 67 qyxzWiy: moderate 69 largely : /wZ/y 
70 let wonder, etc.; cf. n. 77 Troth: by my troth 



Much Ado About Nothing, V , iv 103 

Beat. Why^ then, my cousin, Margaret, and 

Ursula, 

Are much deceiv'd; for they did swear you did. 

Bene. They swore that you were almost sick 

for me. 80 

Beat. They swore that you were well-nigh 

dead for me. 
Bene. 'Tis no such matter. Then, you do not 

love me? 
Beat. No, truly, but in friendly recompense. 
Leon. Come, cousin, I am sure you love the 
gentleman. 84 

Claud. And I'll be sworn upon 't that he loves 
her; 
P'or here's a paper written in his hand, 
A halting sonnet of his own pure brain, 
Fashion'd to Beatrice. 

Hero. And here's another, 88 

Writ in my cousin's hand, stolen from her 

pocket. 
Containing her affection unto Benedick. 

Bene. A miracle! here's our own hands 
against our hearts. Come, I will have thee; but, 
by this light, I take thee for pity. 93 

Beat. I would not deny you ; but, by this good 
day, I yield upon great persuasion, and partly 
to save your life, for I was told you were in a 
consumption. 97 

Bene. Peace! I will stop your mouth. 

[Kisses her.^ 
D. Pedro. How dost thou, 'Benedick, the mar- 
ried man'? 100 
Bene. I'll tell thee what, prince; a college of 

87 his own pure: purely his own 99, 100 Cf. n. 



104 Much Ado About Nothing, V, iv 

witcrackers cannot flout me out of my humour. 
Dost thou think I care for a satire or an epi- 
gram? No; if a man will be beaten with brains^ 
a' shall wear nothing handsome about him. In 
brief, since I do purpose to marry, I will think 
nothing to any purpose that the world can say 
against it; and therefore never flout at me for 
what I have said against it, for man is a giddy 
thing, and this is my conclusion. For thy part, 
Claudio, I did think to have beaten thee ; but, in 
that thou art like to be my kinsman, live un- 
bruised, and love my cousin. 113 

Claud. I had well hoped thou wouldst have 
denied Beatrice, that I might have cudgelled 
thee out of thy single life, to make thee a double- 
dealer; which, out of question, thou wilt be, if 
my cousin do not look exceeding narrowly to 
thee. 119 

Bene. Come, come, we are friends. Let's have 
a dance ere we are married, that we may lighten 
our own hearts and our wives' heels. 

Leon. We'll have dancing afterward. 

Bene. First, of my word; therefore play, 
music! Prince, thou art sad; get thee a wife, 
get thee a wife: there is no staff more reverend 
than one tipped with horn. 127 

Enter Messenger. 

Mes. My lord, your brother John is ta'en in 
flight. 
And brought with armed men back to Messina. 

104 beaten with brains, etc.; cf. n. 

116 double-dealer; cf. n. 124 of: on 



Much Ado About Nothing, V , iv los 

Bene. Think not on him till to-morrow: I'll 
devise thee brave punishments for him. Strike 
up^ pipers ! Dance. 

131 brave: fine 



FINIS. 



NOTES 

I. i. S. d. [Before Antonio's Orchard], etc. 
The quarto edition of this play (1600) makes 
no division into either acts or scenes. The folio 
edition (1623) divides the acts correctly, but 
does not mark the separate scenes, except in 
the case of the present one, the first. Neither 
of the early editions indicates where the action 
of the various scenes occurs. In the present 
instance modern editors have usually located the 
scene 'Before Leonato's House.' Lines 98-100 
and 286, however, suggest that Leonato and his 
family have come to meet their distinguished 
guests near the edge of the town, and lines 
10-12 of scene ii point to the neighborhood of 
Antonio's orchard (i.e. garden) as the place of 
meeting. See L. Mason, Modern Philology, 
xi. 379-89. 

I. i. S. d. Innogen, his wife. Leonato's wife 
is mentioned only in this stage direction and in 
that at the opening of Act II. Modern editors 
have therefore regularly omitted her name in 
both places. It is possible that Shakespeare 
gave her a small part in the first draft of the 
play, and subsequently cut it out for the sake 
of compression. 

I. i. 7 sort. The interpretation of this word 
given in the footnote is preferred by most 
editors; but it is possible to take the word in 
the more general sense which it bears at present : 
'kind.' 

I. i. 30 Mountanto. A term in fencing, 
'upper-cut,' used by Beatrice to characterize 
Benedick's lively and pugnacious disposition. 



108 Much Ado About Nothing 

I. i. 40-42 challenged Cupid . . hird-holt. 
The jest is that Benedick vaingloriously chal- 
lenged Cupid to a contest at shooting hearts, to 
which Leonato's fool replied by suggesting him- 
self as Benedick's proper competitor and the 
childish bird-bolt as his proper weapon. 

I. i. 60 stuffed . . stuffing. Beatrice calls 
Benedick a 'stuffed' man because of his prone- 
ness to over-eat; then, playing with the phrase, 
suggests that his 'stuffing' — what is in him, what 
he is made of — is of no very fine quality. 

I. i. 67 five wits. 'Not the five senses, but the 
five other wits : the memory, fantasy, estimation, 
imagination, and common wit. Benedick is left 
the last only.' 

I. i. 70 bear it for a difference. Alluding to 
a term in heraldry, where a 'difference' was 
some slight mark added to differentiate coats 
of arms otherwise indistinguishable. 

I. i. 72 to be known, etc. This infinitive 
clause is the subject of the sentence. Bare 
recognition as a rational creature, not a dumb 
animal, is all the intellectual wealth Benedick 
has left. 

I. i. 90 the Benedick. Beatrice affects to 
think the harmful result of Benedick's company 
a physical disease, like the colic. 

I. i. 142 a predestinate scratched face. The 
gentleman destined to marry Beatrice is pre- 
destined to have his face scratched by her. If 
she refuses to marry, he will escape that destiny. 

I. i. 143 an. The conjunction 'and,' one old 
meaning of which was 'if.' Here and regularly 
elsewhere the old editions spell 'and,' which 
modern editors alter for the sake of clearness. 

I. i. 146 A bird of my tongue, etc. *A bird 
taught to speak like me,' alluding to Benedick's 
gibe, 'parrot-teacher.' The latter part of the 



Much Ado About Nothing lo^ 

sentence implies that only a beast could be 
taught to speak like Benedick. 

I. i. 151 a jade's trick. Some such trick of 
a bad horse as slipping the head out of the 
collar and escaping. Beatrice gibes at Bene- 
dick's sudden breaking off of the dispute. 

I. i. 171 noted. Benedick puns on one of the 
less obvious meanings of the word. Possibly 
the sense he has in mind is to provide with 
notes, set to music: 'I did not set the young 
lady to music/ i.e. did not go into raptures over 
her. 

I. i. 192, 193 Cupid . . carpenter. It would 
be an obvious absurdity to select the blind god, 
Cupid, to spy out the sitting hare, or to name 
Vulcan, the god of the flaming forge, as a proper 
person to work with the carpenter's inflammable 
materials. 

I. i. 208 wear his cap with suspicion. 'De- 
ceived husbands, according to the ancient jest, 
wore invisible horns. Every husband, therefore, 
would suspect his cap of concealing horns.' 
(MacCracken.) 

I. i. 212 sigh away Sundays. It is hardly 
clear whether Sundays are particularly named 
because the days normally most happily spent 
or because the discontented husband would be 
most conscious of his yoke in the special 
domesticity of Sundays. 

I. i. 226-228 Like the old tale, etc. An old 
children's tale, somewhat similar to that of 
Bluebeard, survived till the eighteenth century, 
in which occurred the words : 'It is not so, nor 
it was not so, and God forbid it should be so.' 

I. i. 251 recheat winded in my forehead . . 
invisible haldrich. Another allusion to the in- 
visible 'horns' ; cf. note on 1. 208. The recheat 
was a horn blast blown {winded) to recall the 



1 10 Much Ado About Nothing 

hounds from the chase; the baldrick, a strap 
worn across the shoulder and supporting the 
horn. 

I. i. 264 for the sign of blind Cupid. Allud- 
ing to the pictorial signs hung up before places 
of business in Shakespeare's time. Benedick, 
treated as he suggests and hung up at the door, 
would make a proper illustration for 'The Blind 
Cupid.' 

I. i. 267 ha7ig me in a bottle like a cat, etc. 
'Bottle' means probably the wicker basket used 
to hold the cat used as the mark in archery- 
contests. 

I. i. 269 called Adam. A special title of 
honor for the successful archer, doubtless from 
the fame of the archer-outlaw of the ballads, 
Adam Bell. 

I. i. 271 *In time the savage bull doth bear 
the yoke.' A line quoted from memory, and not 
quite accurately, from Thomas Kyd's famous 
Spanish Tragedy (composed about 1587). 

I. i. 281, 282 Cupid . . Venice. Venice was 
famed for frivolity. 

I. i. 284 temporise. The meaning is not cer- 
tain. 'Come to terms' is one explanation; 
another, rather more probable, is 'become tem- 
pered', i.e. grow milder. 'With the hours' means 
'in the course of time.' 

I. i. 290-294 and so I commit you . . your 
loving friend. Benedick. The words of Bene- 
dick suggest to Claudio the conventional mode 
of concluding formal letters, which he and Don 
Pedro proceed to parody. The sixth of July, 
formerly celebrated as Midsummer Day, is 
mentioned because of its suggestion of 'mid- 
summer madness.' 

I. i. 296 guarded with fragments, etc. Meta- 
phors from tailoring. Benedick means that Don 



Much Ado A bout Nothing 1 1 1 

Pedro and Claudio cannot in conscience afford 
to mock at trite phrases ('flout old ends'), for 
their own conversation is often made up of just 
such materials very poorly assimilated. 

I. i. 327 The fairest grant is the necessity. 
The best gift is the one which just fits the need 
of the recipient; i.e. it is a mistake to be exces- 
sive. 

I. ii. 2 my cousin, your son. Antonio's son is 
not elsewhere mentioned, and V. i. 303 sug- 
gests that he has no son. The inconsistency 
may be due to oversight. The 'cousins' and 
'cousin' addressed by Leonato in 11. 27 and 29 
are probably more distant relatives, dependants 
of his household. 

I. iii. 12 born under Saturn. According to 
the old belief, persons born under the domina- 
tion of the planet Saturn acquired the morose 
disposition hence called saturnine. 

I. iii. 61 smoking a musty room. Elizabethan 
rooms, strewn with stale rushes, often required 
perfuming in order to dispel unpleasant odors. 

comes me. Shakespeare very frequently 
employs a dative personal pronoun, as here, in 
a sense not found in modern usage. It is some- 
times called the 'ethical' dative and merely 
suggests the interest of the person referred to 
in the act mentioned. 

II. i. 43 lead his apes into hell. An allusion 
to a very common ancient saying that women 
who died old maids 'led apes in hell.' The 
origin of the phrase is uncertain; it may refer 
to the weakness of elderly spinsters for pet 
animals. Small apes held the place in their 
affection in Tudor times which cats hold to-day. 

II. i. 51 for the heavens. The phrase can be 
interpreted either (1) 'on my way to heaven,' 



1 1 2 Much Ado A bout Nothing 

St. Peter being the gate-keeper whom one met 
before entering; or (2) as a petty oath equiva- 
lent to 'by heaven' or perhaps 'for dear life.' 

II. i. 86 I can see a church by daylight. 'I 
am not wholly blind.' The church would be 
the most conspicuous object in nearly any old 
town. 

II. i. 100 Philemon's roof, A reference to 
the story in Ovid's Metamorphoses (bk. viii) 
of how the peasant couple, Philemon and Baucis, 
entertained Jupiter under their humble roof. 
Hence, thatch' d in line 103, peasant cottages 
having thatched roofs. 

II. i. 115 Answer, clerk. Balthazar's Amen 
in the previous speech reminds Margaret of the 
parish clerk, whose business was to read out 
the responses at church in a loud voice. 

II. i. 137 the 'Hundred Merry Tales.' A 
popular collection of coarse anecdotes. 

II. i. 150 fleet. Properly a company of 
vessels sailing together, Beatrice uses the word 
of the company of masqueraders present. The 
nautical suggestion of the word leads her to 
continue the figure in the word boarded, which 
implies the attack of one vessel on another. 

II. i. 186 use. It is disputed whether this 
word is a plain indicative or a subjunctive, 
equivalent to 'let all hearts . . use.' The latter 
seems more probable. 

II. i. 196-198 willow . . garland. Referring 
to the garlands of weeping willow worn by 
forsaken lovers. 

II. i. 207 like the blind man, etc. Probably 
an allusion to a particular story no longer 
known. 

II. i. 212 creep into sedges. Waterfowl, when 
wounded, creep for shelter into the sedges along 



Much Ado A bout Nothing 1 1 3 

the river bank. So Claudio will go off and pine 
by himself. 

II. i. 217 base though hitter. The adjectives 
have been condemned as unintelligible in their 
context; but Benedick means to condemn the 
disposition of Beatrice as 'base/ i.e. unworthy, 
unjust, while admitting that her words have a 
sting (bitterness) which 'base' criticisms do not 
usually possess. 

II. i. 223 Lady Fame. The Vergilian deity 
Fama, Rumor, who goes about the world spread- 
ing news. 

II. i. 243, 244 If their singing, etc. 'If the 
birds sings as you say {i.e. if Hero consents to 
do as you intend and marry Claudio) . . . what 
you say is creditable to you.' 

II. i. 256 lihe a man at a mark. In archery 
contests a man stood beside the mark to check 
off the contestants' arrows as they struck. It 
was a perilous position when the archers shot 
badly. 

II. i. 260 infect to the north star. The infec- 
tion of her breath would reach beyond planetary 
space. 

II. i. 263 made Hercules have turned spit, etc. 
Beatrice would have treated Hercules worse 
than Omphale, who in the legend put him into 
domestic service. Turning the spit was the 
meanest office in the Elizabethan kitchen. It 
was often performed by dogs. 

II. i. 265 infernal Ate in good apparel. Bea- 
trice is like Ate, the goddess of discord, in every- 
thing except that she wears the clothes of a 
fashionable gentlewoman. 

II. i. 266 I would . . some scholar would con- 
jure her. Scholars were reputed to be able to 
raise up and banish evil spirits. 



1 1 4 Much Ado About Nothing 

II. i. 278 Prester John's foot. Prester John 
was a fabled Christian king, supposed to live in 
some remote part of Asia or Africa. 

II. i. 279 the Great Cham's beard. The 
Great Cham or Grand Khan was the ruler of 
the Mongols. 

II. i. 280 the Pigmies. The fabulous race 
who fought with cranes. 

II. i. 282 harpy. The Harpies were rapacious 
female monsters who afflicted voyagers. 

II. i. 306 civil . . civil. A pun on civil and 
Seville, commonly spelled and pronounced alike. 
Seville oranges are bitter-sweet, neither one 
thing nor the other. Hence the application to 
Claudio. Yellow, the color of oranges, is also 
the color (complexion) of jealousy (1. 307). 

II. i. 332 alliance. I.e. relationship by mar- 
riage. Beatrice teases Claudio for addressing 
her as 'cousin' as if he were already married to 
her cousin Hero. 

II. i. 333 sun-burnt. Probably, a mild way 
of saying 'unattractive' ; but some editors ex- 
plain it as 'exposed to the sun,' unsheltered, i.e. 
a lone woman. 

II. ii. 45 term me Claudio. Editors have 
found difficulty in understanding why Margaret 
should address Borachio by any name but his 
own; but how is Margaret, who is not privy to 
the design against her mistress, to be prevented 
from suspecting a plot when she hears herself 
loudly called 'Hero,' unless Borachio has pre- 
viously persuaded her to act out a little play 
in which they are to simulate the happiness of 
the declared lovers ? 

II. iii. 5 I am here already, sir. The boy in- 
dulges in hyperbole: 'I will go so fast that 
you may say I am back again already.' Bene- 
dick pretends to take his words literally. 



Much Ado A bout Nothing 1 1 5 

II. iii. 15 the tabor and the pipe. Drum and 
fife (1. 14) are of course the instruments of 
martial music; tabor (a small drum) and pipe 
are the corresponding instruments which appear 
in times of peaceful revelry. 

II. iii. 35 noble . . angel. A pun, frequent 
in Shakespeare, on the names of two coins of his 
day. A 'noble' was worth one-third of a sover- 
eign (i.e. 6s. 8d.), an 'angel' half a sovereign 
(lOs.).^^ 

II. iii. 37 of what colour it please God. That 
is, her hair must not be dyed. 

II. iii. 39, S. d. Balthazar. The folio edition 
here substitutes for 'Balthazar' the name of the 
actor who took his part: lache Wilson. Com- 
pare the note on IV. ii. 

II. iii. 45 kid-fox. Since 'kid fox' does not 
appear to have been a current name for a young 
fox, many of the best editors are disposed to 
alter the text to 'the hid fox.' 

II. iii. 49, 50 It is the witness still of excel- 
lency, etc. 'It is always (still) a proof of 
excellence that, in demeanour, it is unconscious, 
or unknowing, of its own perfection.' (Fur- 
ness.) 

II. iii. 59 crotchets. A pun on two meanings 
of the word: (1) whims, (2) notes of music. 

II. iii. 60 notes, notes, forsooth, and nothing! 
A pun is evident here, 'nothing' being pro- 
nounced by Elizabethans much or precisely like 
'noting.' It has been suggested that a similar 
pun is involved in the title of the play. Much 
Ado about Nothing (or Noting, i.e. eaves- 
dropping). 

II. iii. 90 night-raven. The voice of this bird 
(which has not been certainly identified) was 
supposed to betoken some 'plague,' especially 
sickness or death. 



1 1 6 Much Ado About Nothing 

II. iii. 92 Yea, marry. These words have no 
reference, of course, to the speech of Benedick, 
who has hidden himself apart from the others 
(cf. 1. 43). Furness explains that while Bene- 
dick speaks the Prince has been talking to 
Claudio about the music for Hero 'to-morrow 
night' (1. 94) and that he here assents to 
Claudio's suggestion. 

II. iii. 101 Stalk on, etc. A figure from game- 
stalking. The 'fowl' is Benedick, whom they 
hope to catch 'sitting.' 

II. iii. 261 paper bullets of the brain. Quips 
and sentences, Benedick foresees, will be shot 
at him like bullets, but being taken from books, 
they are but paper bullets, which do no real 
injury. For career in the sense of full speed, 
cf. V. i. 138. 

III. i. 45 as full as. Possibly a misprint for 
at full as, 'fully as.' 

III. i. 61 spell him backward. Alluding to 
the practice of conjurors, who spell prayers and 
holy names backwards in order to produce in- 
cantations. The meaning is: turn his virtues 
into vices. 

III. i. 101 every day — to-morrow. The mean- 
ing seems to be: 'I am married every day — it 
is constantly in my thoughts ; but the actual 
time is to-morrow.' Perhaps, however. Hero 
refers to the postponement of the ceremony 
(cf. II. i. 374 ff.) and means: 'Every day it is 
set for the next.' 

III. i. 110 behind the back. I.e. when their 
back is turned, when people talk about them. 

III. i. 112 Taming my wild heart to thy 
loving hand. A figure suggested by the taming 
of a hawk, which comes to know the hand of 
the falconer. 



Much Ado A bout Nothing 1 1 7 

III. ii. 24 hang . . draw. Alluding to the 
punishment of traitors, who were hanged, 
drawn, and quartered. 

III. ii. 27 a humour or a worm. Contempo- 
rary dental theory ascribed toothache, among 
other causes, to the presence of humors, i.e. 
unhealthy secretions, and to actual worms in 
the teeth. 

III. ii. 37 no doublet. That is, no doublet is 
to be seen, because, like a Spaniard, the upper 
part of his body is quite enveloped by his cloak. 

III. ii. 46, 47 the old ornament of his cheek 
hath already stuffed tennis-balls. He has cut 
off his beard. The tennis-balls of the day were 
sometimes stuffed with human hair. 

III. ii. 70 buried with her face upwards. 
Suicides were sometimes buried with their faces 
downward. The Prince means that Beatrice 
will not be responsible for her own death. 

III. ii. 75 hobby-horses. Originally morris- 
dancers dressed to look like horses; hence any 
ridiculously frivolous persons. 

III. ii. 90 This line should perhaps be as- 
signed to Claudio. 

III. iii. 106 scab. Modern usage of 'scab' 
for a scurvy fellow renders the pun still intel- 
ligible. 

III. iii. 143 god Bel's priests. Threescore 
and ten priests of Bel are mentioned in the 
Apocryphal book of Daniel. 

III. iii. 147 the fashion wears out more 
apparel than the man. That is, new clothes are 
required oftener to conform to changes of 
fashion than for actual use. 

III. iii. 176 right Master constable. An 
absurd title. The speaker is thinking of such 
respectful phrases as 'right worshipful.' 

III. iii. 188, 189 commodity . . bills. 'Bills' 



1 1 8 Much Ado A bout Nothing 

is used punningly with reference, first, to the 
bills (halberds) of the watch; second, to the 
common commercial phrase, *to take up a 
commodity on one's bills,' i.e. buy merchandise 
on credit. 

III. iv. 13 within. Furness prefers to take 
'tire within' as meaning the inner trimming of 
the head dress. Within may, however, mean 'in 
an inner room.' 

III. iv. 32 saving your reverence. A common 
expression, sometimes abbreviated 'sir-rever- 
ence.' It means that no disrespect to the hearer 
is intended. 

III. V. 18 palahras. A scrap of Spanish: 
pocas palahras, few words. 

III. V. 37 when the age is in, etc. An original 
adaptation of an old proverb: 'When ale is in, 
wit is out.' 

III. V. 39 God's a good man. A proverbial 
saying. 

III. V. 68 non-come. Dogberry probably 
means 'non plus,' but confuses that bit of learn- 
ing with another: 'non compos mentis.' 

IV. i. 22 some he of laughing, as ah! ha! he! 
Alluding to the way Latin and English gram- 
mars of the day listed the interjections accord- 
ing to the emotions they expressed. 

IV. i. 45 in your own proof. 'In making 
trial of her yourself.' (Wright.) 

IV. i. 69 True! Hero's exclamation refers 
to Don John's speech, not Benedick's. 

IV. i. 83 Hero itself, etc. 'The very name, 
by becoming a byword and a reproach, can blot 
out virtue.' (Furness.) 

IV. i. 140 That I myself was to myself not 
mine. I.e. Hero was so much a part of me that 
by comparison I was not myself. 



Much Ado About Nothing 1 19 

IV. i. 169 The tenour of my book. 'Book' 
is used in the general sense of the learning 
gained from books, the tenor or general nature 
of which is warranted {i.e. confirmed) by the 
Friar's practical observations of life. 

IV. i. 239 But if all aim but this be levelVd 
false. 'If every other aim miscarry.' 

IV. i. 254 For to strange sores strangely 
they strain the cure. 'Strange diseases require 
desperately strange cures.' 

IV. ii. The early editions, both quarto and 
folio, prefix to the speeches of Dogberry and 
Verges in this scene the names of the actors 
who originally took their parts; viz., Kempe 
and Cowley respectively. The phrase 'in 
gowns' in the opening stage direction means 
that the constables and town clerk (sexton) 
wore their gowns of office. 

IV. ii. 5 Dogb. In this case the early edi- 
tions give the speech to 'Andrew,' perhaps a 
nickname of the clown or Merry-Andrew, 
Kempe. 

IV. ii. 73, 74. In the early editions these 
lines form a single speech, printed thus: 'Let 
them be in the hands of Coxcombe.' The folio 
gives the words to the Sexton, the quarto to 
Cowley (i.e. Verges). Malone suggested the 
accepted reading, which cannot be regarded as 
certain. 

V. i. 16 Bid sorrow wag. Capell's emenda- 
tion. The early editions have 'And sorrow, 
wagge,' which apparently makes no sense. 

V. i. 38 made a push. The most probable 
meaning is made a 'pish !', i.e. mocked. 

V. i. 82 Win me and wear me. A proverbial 
phrase: 'He may have me if he wins me (by 
the sword).' 



120 Much Ado About Nothing 

V. i. 102 wahe your patience. 'We will not 
keep your patience wakeful or excited.' It 
would be more natural to say 'wake your im- 
patience/ but the Prince is too polite to use the 
uncomplimentary term. 

V. i. 131 draw. The word is used punningly, 
with special reference to bidding the minstrels 
draw their bows across the strings of their 
instruments. 

V. i. 142 broke cross. Like 'in the career' 
above (1. 138), this is a figure from the tilting 
matches of the day. Only a very awkward 
tilter would aim so badly as to break his staff 
'cross/ i.e. not by a direct blow, but by allowing 
it to strike lengthwise across his opponent's 
body. 

V. i. 146 turn his girdle. A common prover- 
bial saying of rather vague force. Probably it 
means no more than 'change his mood/ but it 
has also been explained as 'prepare to fight/ 
referring to the alleged custom of wrestlers to 
turn the buckles of their girdles to the back 
before beginning. 

V. i. 170 a wise gentleman. Evidently the 
words, as repeated by Beatrice, had some col- 
loquial derogatory force now lost. Perhaps 
they were a cant name for a fool. 

V. i. 208, 209 goes in his doublet and hose 
and leaves off his wit. Doublet and hose formed 
the Elizabethan undress costume, a cloak being 
worn over them on formal occasions. The 
Prince suggests ironicallj^ that man's wit is a 
mere outward embellishment which he can leave 
off as easily as he can his cloak and go about in 
his natural stupidity. 

V. i. 210 He is then a giant to an ape, etc. 
In physical proportions man is much greater 
than an ape (i.e. an Elizabethan pet ape, a 



Much Ado A bout Nothing 1 2 1 

small monkey), but in mental power the ape is 
far superior. 

V. i. 235 one meaning well suited. One 
meaning provided with many different suits of 
clothes ; alluding to the previous speech of Don 
Pedro, where practically the same idea is ex- 
pressed in four different ways. 

V. i. 334 God save the foundation. A cus- 
tomary phrase, used by those who received 
assistance from a charitable foundation, quite 
out of place here since Leonato is not a 'founda- 
tion.' 

V. ii. 6 so high a style. A pun on the two 
words, 'style' and 'stile,' is intended; 'come 
over' in the next line implying both 'excel' the 
style and 'climb over' the stile. 

V. ii. 21 with a vice. A play on 'vice,' the 
screw by which the sharp pointed 'pike' was 
fastened in the centre of the buckler, and 'vice,* 
sin. 

V. ii. 30, 31 Leander . . Troilus. Allusions 
probably to Marlowe's Hero and Leander and 
Chaucer's Troilus and Criseide respectively. 

V. ii. 41 not born under a riming planet. 
Alluding to the old-fashioned belief in the in- 
fluence exerted upon each man's temperament 
by the particular planet which was most con- 
spicuous when he was born. 

V. ii. 82 in the time of good neighbours. In 
the time when people's neighbours used to 
speak well of them — a very long time ago. 

V. ii. 89 Don Worm, his conscience. The old 
moralists represented conscience as a gnawing 
worm. The title 'Don' is given it from mock 
respect. 

V. iii. 9, 10 Hang thou there upon the tomb, 
etc. Dr. Furness holds that these lines are not 
Claudio's comment while affixing the epitaph. 



122 Much Ado About Nothing 

but part of the epitaph itself; but compare 
Claudio's similar riming comment below, 11. 
22, 23. 

V. iii. 20 Till death he uttered. There has 
been much unnecessary discussion of the mean- 
ing of this passage. It is clear if we under- 
stand uttered in the common Elizabethan sense 
of 'sent abroad/ 'put into circulation,' The 
word is regularly so used with regard to books 
placed on sale, news made public, etc. The 
meaning here is, then, that the graves are to 
yawn and yield their dead until death is scat- 
tered abroad among the world of men. 

V. iii. 33 Than this, etc. 'This' probably 
refers to Hero: 'May Hymen grant us a 
happier outcome than he granted to her whose 
marriage was the means of her death.' Hymen 
is the god of marriage. Dr. Furness explains 
'Than this' as a contraction for 'than in this 
(issue).' 

V. iv. 6 In the true course of all the question. 
'Now that the whole question has been truly 
followed up.' 

V. iv. 43 I thinh he thinks upon the savage 
bull. A jesting reminiscence of the conversation 
between Don Pedro and Benedick, I. i. 270-278. 

V. iv. 45, 46 Europa . . Europa. In the 
first instance the continent of Europe, in the 
second the mythological maiden, supposed to 
have been carried off by Jupiter in the form of 
a bull, and to have given her name to the land 
whither she was brought. 

V. iv. 70 let wonder seem familiar. 'Act as 
if your curiosity liad already been satisfied.' 

V. iv. 99, 100 'Benedick, the married man.' 
See I. i. 278. 

V. iv. 104 beaten with brains. Subjected to 
ridicule. If a man fears ridicule. Benedick says, 



Much Ado About Nothing 123 

he will not dare to have anything handsome 
about him (whether clothes or a wife), which 
might attract attention to him. 

V. iv. 116 a double-dealer. Used punningly, 
first of one who gives up his single life for the 
double life of matrimony, and then with an 
allusion to double-dealing, inconstancy. 



APPENDIX A 

Sources of 'Much Ado about Nothing' 

Much Ado about Nothing is a good example 
of the sort of originality which usually marks 
Shakespeare's plots. No source other than the 
poet's own invention has been discovered for 
those parts of the play which give it its par- 
ticular charm and interest — the story of Bene- 
dick and Beatrice and the delectable folly of 
Dogberry. The famous scenes constructed 
about these figures seem to be based solely upon 
Shakespeare's knowledge of contemporary Eng- 
lish character, as he had studied it in cultivated 
and in plebeian circles respectively. The author 
turned to books for his material only in the case 
of the story of Hero and Claudio. 

The tale of two lovers, estranged by an 
envious villain by means of a sham interview 
between the lady and another man, has been 
found in the literature of many countries. It 
is likely that Shakespeare knew it in the form 
developed by the Italian story-writer, Matteo 
Bandello (1480-1561), the twentieth tale of 
whose collection (published at Lucca in 1554) 
'telleth how Signor Timbreo di Cardona (Shake- 
speare's Claudio) being with King Piero of 
Arragon (Shakespeare's Don Pedro) in Mes- 
sina, became enamoured of Fenicia Lionata 
(Shakespeare's Hero, daughter of Leonato), 
and of the various and unlooked-for chances 
which befell before he took her to wife.' 

In this story we have the same scene of 
action as in Shakespeare and the same general 
progress of events, though there are important 



Much Ado About Nothing 1 25 

differences of detail. The names, except Don 
Pedro and Leonato, are quite unlike. The 
deception of the lover in Bandello is achieved 
simply by shovt^ing him a man entering a window 
of Leonato's house; there is no parallel to the 
disguising of Margaret to simulate her mistress. 
Again, in Bandello, the denunciation of the 
heroine is performed less dramatically and also 
less heartlessly than in Shakespeare, by means 
of a messenger sent by the deceived lover to her 
father's house; and the villain himself exposes 
his plot from subsequent scruples of conscience. 
Thus Bandello's representatives of both Claudio 
and Don John are shown in a less odious light 
than their Shakespearean counterparts. Ban- 
dello appears to regard them both as rather 
excellent young men; Shakespeare, with dis- 
tinctly different ideals of conduct, is at pains 
to emphasize his disapproval. 

It would hardly be doubted that Shakespeare 
had read Bandello, if we were certain that he 
could read Italian. Probably he could, since 
Italian was the most commonly studied of all 
the modern tongues in his age and was perhaps 
more generally understood by educated men 
than any foreign language is in England to-day. 
No English translation of Bandello's tale is 
known to have existed in Shakespeare's life- 
time, but a free French version, by Frangois 
de Belle-Forest, was published in 1582. This 
may possibly have furnished the poet with the 
story, but the likelihood that it did so is les- 
sened by the fact that Shakespeare shows no 
acquaintance with any of Belle-Forest's rather 
numerous deviations from his original. Another 
possibility is that Shakespeare knew Bandello's 
story at second hand, as it had been worked up 
into some earlier English play. Evidence for 



1 26 Much Ado A bout Nothing 

such a drama has been found in a record of the 
Revels Accounts for December 18, 1574, which 
shows that the Earl of Leicester's players acted 
a piece called 'theier matter of Panecia' (i.e. 
Phenicia or Fenicia, Bandello's heroine?), when 
Shakesi3eare was ten years old. 

For one of Shakespeare's divergences from 
Bandello noted above — the introduction of Mar- 
garet in Hero's clothes — a source exists in 
Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, Book V (published, 
1516), where a story somewhat similar to Ban- 
dello's is related. In all other details Ariosto's 
version is far less like Much Ado than Ban- 
dello's, but the former clearly foreshadows the 
part of Margaret in his Dalinda, whom he 
makes the narrator of the tale. In the fourth 
canto of the second book of the Fairy Queen 
(published, 1590), Spenser introduces an 
adaptation of Ariosto's story, again changing 
the names and putting the narrative into the 
mouth of the figure corresponding to Claudio. 
Thus the latter portrays his sentiments while 
the deception is being practiced upon him: 

Eftsoones he came vnto th' appointed place, 

And with him brought Pryene [Margaret], rich 

arayd, 
In Clarihellaes [Hero's] clothes. Her proper face 
I not descerned in that darkesome shade, 
But weend it was my loue, with whom he playd. 
Ah God, what horrour and tormenting griefe 
My hart, my hands, mine eyes, and all assayd? 
Me liefer were ten thousand deathes priefe [expe- 
rience] 
Then wound of gealous worme, and shame of such 
repriefe. 

The figures of Dogberry and his companions 
and their whole connection with the plot were 
original with Shakespeare, as has been said. 
How truly the poet depicted the actual con- 



Much Ado A bout Nothing 1 27 

stabulary of his time is proved by a genuine 
letter written August 10^ 1586, by Lord Burgh- 
ley, Queen Elizabeth's chief minister of state, 
to Sir Francis Walsingham: 

'Sir — As I cam from London homward, in 
my coche, I sawe at euery townes end the nombre 
of X. or xij. standyng, with long staues, and 
vntill I cam to Enfield I thought no other of 
them, but that they had stayd for auoyding 
of the rayne, or to drynk at some alehouses, 
for so they did stand vnder pentyces [pent- 
houses] at alehouses. But at Enfeld fynding 
a dosen in a plump [group], whan ther was 
no rayne, I bethought myself that they war 
apoynted as watchmen, for the apprehendyng 
of such as ar missyng [i.e. certain escaped 
traitors] ; and thereuppon I called some of them 
to me apart, and asked them wherfor they stood 
ther? and on of them answered, — To tak 3 
yong men. And demandyng how they shuld 
know the persons, on answered with these 
words: — Mary, my Lord, by intelligence of 
ther fauor. What meane you by that? quoth I. 
Marry, sayd they, on of the partyes hath a 
hooked nose. — And haue you, quoth I, no other 
mark.f* — No, sayth they. And then I asked 
who apoynted them; and they answered on 
Bankes, a Head Constable, whom I willed to 
be sent to me. — Suerly, sir, who so euer had 
the chardg from yow hath vsed the matter 
negligently, for these watchmen stand so 
oppenly in plumps, as no suspected person will 
come neare them; and if they be no better 
instructed but to fynd 3 persons by on of them 
hauyng a hooked nose, they may miss therof. 
And thus I thought good to aduertise yow, that 
the Justyces that had the chardg, as I thynk, 
may vse the matter more circumspectly.' 



APPENDIX B 

The History of the Play 

The definite history of Much Ado about 
Nothing goes back to the first year of the seven- 
teenth century. On August 2S, 1600, this play 
was licensed for publication, along with the 
second part of Henri/ IF, and it appeared in the 
same year in the only early quarto edition. This 
version was evidently followed by the pub- 
lishers of the collected edition of Shakespeare's 
plays in the 1623 Folio, and the two texts 
exhibit only trivial differences. It is generally 
assumed that the comedy was written in 1599, 
and there is no reason for inferring an earlier 
date, except the bare possibility that Much Ado 
about Nothing is identical with a mysterious 
Love's Labor's Won, listed by Francis Meres 
as one of Shakespeare's comedies in 1598. 

The title-page of the edition of 1600 records 
that the play 'hath been sundrie times publikely 
acted by the right honorable, the Lord Cham- 
berlaine his seruants,' i.e. by Shakespeare's 
company, then acting at the newly built Globe 
Theatre. A memorandum in the Stationers' 
Register, dated August 4 (1600), less than 
three weeks before the official license for pub- 
lication, notes that Much Ado about Nothing 
and three other plays performed by Shake- 
speare's company were 'to be staied,' i.e. with- 
held from publication. The purpose of this 
unsuccessful effort to prevent the printing of 
the comedy was doubtless the actors' fear that 
circulation of the printed text might detract 
from the success of their performances. The 



Much Ado About Nothing 129 

substitution in the early editions of the names 
of Jack Wilson^, Kempe and Cowley instead of 
Balthazar, Dogberry and Verges (c/. notes on 
II. iii. 39_, s. d. and IV. ii.) gives welcome in- 
formation regarding the creators of those parts. 
Much Ado about Nothing was acted at Court, 
probably twice, on the occasion of the marriage 
of James I's daughter, the Princess Elizabeth, 
to Frederic, Elector Palatine, in 1613. More 
specific evidence of the play's popularity with 
Stuart audiences occurs in a poem by Leonard 
Digges, affixed to the 1640 edition of Shake- 
speare's Poems: 

Let but Beatrice 
And Benedicke be scene, loe, in a trice 
The Cockpit, Galleries, Boxes, all are full. 

After the Restoration, Sir William Davenant 
(1606-1668) was responsible for an ill-advised 
effort to make capital out of Benedick and 
Beatrice by introducing them into the plot of 
Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, in a medley 
called The Law against Lovers (published, 
1673). A further monstrosity appeared in 1736 
in The Universal Passion, an attempt by one 
James Miller to combine Much Ado with 
Moliere's Princess of Elis. In 1721, the 
genuine play was restored to the London stage, 
where it has since been an established favorite. 
David Garrick (1717-1779) was famous in the 
role of Benedick, as a great many of the chief 
English and American actors have been since. 
In general, however, the impersonators of 
Beatrice have found the greatest opportunity, 
and distinguished actresses like Helena Faucit 
(Lady Martin, 1817-1898), Ellen Terry (1848- 

), and Ada Rehan (1860-1916) have owed 

much of their success to their interpretations of 
this part. 



APPENDIX C 

Suggestions for Collateral Reading 

William Hazlitt in Characters of Shake- 
spear's Plays (1817). (Reprinted in Every- 
man's Library.) 

Mrs. Anna Jameson in Characteristics of 
Women, Moral, Poetical and Historical (1833). 

Mary Cowden Clarke: 'Beatrice and Hero: 
The Cousins' in The Girlhood of Shakespeare's 
Heroines (1850-1852). (In vol. iii of the 
Everyman's Library ed.) 

Helena Faucit, Lady Martin: On Some of 
Shakespeare's Female Characters, Letter no. 
viii. 'Beatrice' (1885). Seventh ed., Edin- 
burgh, 1904. 

Andrew Lang: The Comedies of Shakespeare. 
With Illustrations by E. A. Abbey, and com- 
ments by Andrew Lang. V. Much Ado about 
Nothing. Harper's Magazine, September, 1891, 
vol. Ixxxiii, pp. 489-502. 

H. H. Furness: A New Variorum Edition of 
Shakespeare. Vol. xii. Much Ado about Noth- 
ing, 1899. 



APPENDIX D 

The Text of the Present Edition 

The text of the present volume is^ by per- 
mission of the Oxford University Press, that 
of the Oxford Shakespeare, edited by the late 
W. J. Craig, except for the following deviations: 

1. The stage directions are based on those 
in the two original editions of the play, a few 
obvious errors in the latter being corrected and 
words there missing added within square 
brackets. 

2. About half a dozen words are differently 
spelled: e.g., antic (antick), lantern (lanthorn)^ 
villainy (villany), haggard (haggerd). 

3. Five changes of punctuation or wording 
have been made, viz.: 

I. i. 153 Leonato. — for Leonato: 

II. iii. 92 marry. Dost for marry; dost 

II. iii. 123 sit you — for sit you; 

III. i. 101 day — for day, 

V. i. 94 Scambling for Scrambling 



INDEX OF WORDS GLOSSED 



(Figures in full-faced type refer to page-numbers) 



abused: 97 (V. ii. 103) 
accordant: 13 (I. ii. 16) 
Adam, called: 10 (I. i. 

269) 
addition: 41 (II. iii. 253) 
advertisement: 81 (V. i. 

32) 
affect: 11 (I. i. 306) 
affection: 31 (II. ii. 7) 
against: 23 (II. i. 189) 
agate: 45 (III. i. 65) 
aim at: 51 (III. ii. 99) 
alliance: 28 (II. i. 332) 
alms: 39 (II. iii. 175) 
am for you: 30 (II. i. 

389) 
an: 6 (I. i. 143) 
ancientry: 19 (II. i. 81) 
angel (coin): 34 (II. iii. 

35) 
answer, to your: 89 (V. 

i. 238) 
antic: 45 (III. i. 63) 
anticlv: 84 (V. i. 96) 
apes (lead a. in hell) : 18 

(II. i. 43) 
appear: 13 (I. ii. 23) 
apprehend: 19 (II. i. 85) 
apprehension: 61 (III. 

iv. 67) 
approved: 30 (II. i. 397) 
argument (theme for 

talk): 10 (I. i. 266) 
argument (power of rea- 
son) : 46 (III. i. 96) 
Ate: 26 (II. i. 265) 
attir'd: 70 (IV. i. 146) 
authority: 66 (IV. i. 35) 



badge: 2 (I. i. 23) 
band: 47 (III. i. 114) 
barns (bairns) : 60 (III. 

iv. 48) 
base: 24 (II. i. 217) 
bear- ward: 18 (II. i. 43) 
bear in hand: 76 (IV. i. 

309) 
beaten with brains: 104 

(V. iv. 104) 
belongs to: 53 (III. iii. 

40) 
below stairs, keep: 94 

(V. ii. 10) 
Bel's priests: 57 (III. 

iii. 143) 
bent (tension): 41 (II. 

iii. 243) 
bent (inclination) : 72 

(IV. i. 188) 
beshrew: 83 (V. i. 55) 
beside: 86 (V. i. 131) 
bills (advertisement) : 2 

(I. i. 39) 
bills (pikes): 53 (III. 

iii. 44) 
bird-bolt: 2 (I. i. 42) 
blazon: 27 (II. i. 309) 
block: 3 (I. i. 78) 
blood: 15 (I. iii. 30) 
book: 71 (IV. i. 169) 
books: 3 (I. i. 80) 
bottle: 10 (I. i. 267) 
brave: 105 (V. iv. 131) 
break: 11 (I. i. 319) 
breathing: 30 (II. i. 380) 
broke cross: 86 (V. i. 

142) 



Much Ado About Nothing 



133 



bucklers, give the: 94 (V. 

ii. 17) 
burden: 60 (III. iv. 45) 
by: 92 (V. i. 316) 

candle-wasters: 81 (V. i. 

18) 
canker: 15 (I. iii. 28) 
career: 86 (V. i. 138) 
carpet-mongers: 95 (V. 

ii. 33) 
carriage: 15 (I. iii. 31) 
carry: 41 (II. iii. 234) 
carving: 33 (II. iii. 18) 
certain: 23 (II. i. 183) 
Cham, Great: 26 (II. i. 

279) 
change: 71 (IV. i. 185) 
charge (noun) : 4 (I. i. 

106) 
charge (verb): 86 (V. i. 

139) 
cheapen: 34 (II. iii. 33) 
church-bencL : 55 (III. 

iii. 94) 
cinque-pace: 19 (II. i. 

78) 
circumstances: 51 (III. 

ii. 106) 
civet: 49 (III. ii. 50) 
civil: 27 (II. i. 306) 
claw: 14 (I. iii. 19) 
close, stand: 56 (III. iii. 

113) 
cod-piece: 57 (III. iii. 

145) 
cog: 84 (V. i. 95) 
coil: 55 (III. iii. 98) 
Comfect: 76 (IV. i. 322) 
commodity: 58 (III. iii. 

188) 
comparison: 22 (II. i. 

154) 
complexion: 12 (I. i. 323) 
comprehend: 53 (III. iii. 

25) 
conceit: 27 (II. i. 311) 



conditions: 50 (III. ii. 

68) 
confirm'd: 100 (V. iv. 

17) 
conjecture: 68 (IV. i. 

107) 
contemptible: 39 (II. iii. 

198) 
continuer: 6 (I. i. 149) 
convert: 5 (I. i. 127) 
conveyance: 25 (II. t. 

255) «w 

counterpoise: 65 (IV. i. 

28) 
counties: 76 (IV, i. 321) 
cousin: 12 (I. ii. 2) 
cozened: 32 (II. ii. 39) 
crotchets: 35 (II. iii. 59) 
cry mercy: 13 (I. ii. 28) 
cuckold: 18 (II. i. 47) 
Cupid: 7 (I. i. 192) 
curiously: 87 (V. i. 160) 
curst: 17 (II. i. 22) 
cuts: 59 (III. iv. 19) 

daflFed: 39 (II. iii. 187) 
dear: 5 (I. i. 134) 
dearness: 51 (III. ii. 101) 
debated: 99 (V. iv. 3) 
defend: 20 (II. i. 99) 
deprave: 84 (V. i. 95) 
desartless: 52 (III. iii. 9) 
despite: 9 (I. i. 245) 
Dian "• ''^^. i. 57) 
difference: 3 (I. i. 70) 
discovered: 13 (I. ii. 13) 
displeasure: 31 (II. ii. 6) 
doctor: 88 (V. i. 211) 
Don Worm: 97 (V. ii. 

89) 
dotage: 39 (II. iii. 187) 
double-dealer: 104 (V. 

iv. 116) 
doublet: 33 (II. iii. 19) 
down sleeves: 59 (III. iv. 

20) 
drift: 30 (II. i. 406) 



134. 



Much Ado About Nothing 



drovier: 24 (II. i. 204) 
ducats: 32 (II. ii. 54) 
dumps: 36 (II. iii. 75) 

earnest: 18 (II. i. 43) 
ecstasy: 38 (II. iii. 167) 
eftest: 78 (IV. ii. 39) 
encounter: 4 (I. i. 100) 
enfranchised: 15 (I. iii. 

35) 
enraged: 37 (II. iii. 112) 
entertained: 16 (I. iii. 

60) 
estimation: 31 (II. ii. 25) 
Europa: 101 (V. iv. 45) 
even: 75 (IV. i. 268) 
event: 13 (I. ii. 8) 
ever: 29 (II. i. 361) 
experimental seal: 71 

(IV. i. 168) 

faith: 3 (I. i. 76); 100 

(V. iv. 8) 
false gallop: 61 (III. iv. 

94) 
Fame, Lady: 24 (II. i. 

223) 
fancy: 48 (III. ii. 31) 
fashion: 15 (I. iii. 30) 
fathers herself: 5 (I. i. 

116) 
favour: 20 (II. 1. 99) 
fence: 83 (V. i. 75) 
festival terms: 95 (V. ii. 

42) 
fetch . . in: 9 (I. i. 233) 
fine: 9 (I. i. 255) 
finer, go the: 9 (I. i. 256) 
flat: 25 (II. i. 231) 
fleer: 83 (V. i. 58) 
fleet: 22 (II. i. 150) 
flight, at the: 2 (I. i. 40) 
flouting Jack: 7 (I. i. 

192) 
flow in: 74 (IV. i. 251) 
foining: 84 (V. i. 84) 



'forehand sin: 66 (IV. i. 
50) 

foundation: 93 (V. i. 
334) 

frame (verb): 15 (I. iii. 
26) 

frame (noun, contriv- 
ance): 72 (IV. i. 191) 

frame (noun, order): 69 
(IV. i. 130) 

from: 46 (III. i. 72) 

full: 5 (I. i. 114) 

getting: 28 (II. i. 338) 
girdle, turn his: 86 (V. 

i. 145) 
gives . . out: 24 (II. i. 

218) 
go about with: 78 (IV. 

ii. 29) 
go in: 7 (I. i. 194) 
go near to: 78 (IV. ii. 

25) 
go to: 8 (I. i. 210) 
goes to the world: 28 

(II. i. 332) 
good den: 50 (III. ii. 83) 
Goodman: 62 (III. v. 10) 
good-year: 14 (I. iii. 1) 
grace, all: 28 (II. i. 317) 
grace harmony: 34 (II. 

iii. 42) 
gracious: 69 (IV. i. 109) 
guarded — guards: 11 (I. 

i. 296) 
guU: 37 (II. iii. 132) 

habit: 73 (IV. i. 229) 
haggards: 44 (III. i. 36) 
halfpence: 38 (II. iii. 

157) 
hangman: 48 (III. ii. 11) 
happiness: 5 (I. i. 134); 

40 (II. iii. 201) 
haps: 47 (III. i. 105) 
harpy: 26 (II. i. 



Much Ado About Nothing 



135 



head, to thy: 83 (V. i. 

62) 
Headborough: 62 (III. v. 

S. d.) 
hearken after: 89 (V. i. 

221) 
heart-burned: 17 (II. i. 

4) 
heavens, for the: 18 (II. 

i. 51) 
height: 76 (IV. i. 306) 
Hercules: 26 (II. i. 263) 
high-proof: 85 (V. 1. 

124) 
his (its): 96 (V. ii. 57) 
hobby-horses: 50 (III. ii. 

75) 
hold . . up: 37 (II. iii. 

136) 
holds: 51 (III. ii. 101) 
honest: 46 (III. i. 84) 
honesty: 30 (II. i. 398) 
horn-mad: 10 (I. i. 280) 
householder: 80 (IV. ii. 

87) 
how: 45 (III. i. 60) 
huddling: 25 (II. i. 254) 
humour: 5 (I. i. 137) 
Hundred Merrv Tales : 

21 (II. i. 137) 

ill: 20 (II. i. 107) 
ill-well: 21 (II. i. 124) 
important: 19 (II. i. 75) 
impose: 91 (V. i. 286) 
incensed: 89 (V. i. 247) 
infinite: 37 (II. iii. 112) 
injuries: 74 (IV. i. 245) 
innocent: 95 (V. ii. 38) 
instance: 96 (V. ii. 81) 
instances: 32 (II. ii. 42) 
intend: 32 (II. ii. 35) 
invention: 72 (IV. i. 196) 
inwardness: 74 (IV. i. 

247) 
issue: 99 (V. iii. 32) 



jade's trick: 6 (I. i. 151) 
jealousy: 32 (II. ii. 50) 
just: 18 (II. i. 29) 

kid-fox: 34 (II. iii. 45) 
kind (adj.): 2 (I. i. 26) 
kind (noun) : 72 (IV. i. 

199) 
kindly: 67 (IV. i. 75) 

laced: 59 (III. iv. 20) 
large: 40 (II. iii. 217) 
largely: 102 (V. iv. 69) 
Leander: 95 (V. ii. 30) 
leavy: 36 (II. iii. 77) 
liberal: 68 (IV. i. 93) 
lies in: 31 (II. ii. 21) 
light: 60 (III. iv. 37) 
like of: 102 (V. iv. 59) 
lim'd: 47 (III. i. 104) 
list: 61 (III. iv. 82) 
liver: 73 (IV. i. 233) 
lock: 58 (III. iii. 181) 
lustihood: 83 (V. i. 76) 
luxurious: 66 (IV. i. 41) 

mannerly: 19 (II. i. 80) 
March-chick: 16 (I. iii. 

58) 
mark, man at a: 25 (II. 

i. 256) 
marl: 19 (II. i. 67) 
Mass: 55 (III. iii. 105) 
matter: 28 (II. i. 346) 
measure, out of: 14 (I. 

iii. 2) 
measure: 19 (II. i. 78) 
meddle or make: 54 (III. 

iii. 5Q) 
meet: 2 (I. i. 47); 5 (I. 

i. 126) 
mend: 97 (V. ii. 98) 
mending, put to: 41 (II. 

iii. 249) 
metal: 19 (II. i. 64) 
mind: 29 (II. i. 378) 
minister: 30 (II. i. 387) 



136 



Much Ado About Nothing 



misgovernment : 68 (IV. 

i. 100) 
misprising: 45 (III. i. 

52) 
misprision: 72 (IV. i. 

187) 
misuse (delude) : 32 (II. 

ii. 28) 
misused (abused) : 25 

(II. i. 248) 
mo: 36 (II. iii. 74) 
moral (noun) : 61 (III. 

iv. 77) 
moral (adj.): 81 (V. i. 

30) 
mortifying mischief: 14 

(I. iii. 13) 
Mountanto: 2 (I. i. 30) 
mourning ostentation: 72 

(IV. i. 207) 
moving-delicate: 73 (IV. 

i. 230) 

name: 1 (I. i. 7) 
naught: 87 (V. i. 160) 
naughty: 80 (IV. ii. 77) 
near: 22 (II. i. 171) 
night-gown: 59 (III. iv. 

18) 
night-raven: 36 (II. iii. 

90) 
non-come: 64 (III. v. 68) 
noted: 7 (I. i. 171) 
notes: 35 (II. iii. 57) 

odorous: 62 (III. v. 18) 
of: 63 (III. V. 24); 104 

(V. iv. 124) 
old coil: 97 (V. ii. 102) 
once, 'tis: 12 (I. i. 328) 
only: 22 (II. i. 145); 43 

(III. i. 23) 
organ: 73 (IV. i. 228) 
out-facing: 84 (V. i. 94) 
out of: 39 (II. iii. 177) 
outrage: 39 (II. iii. 169) 



over-mastered with: 19 
(II. i. Q5) 

pack'd: 92 (V. i. 312) 
paint out: 51 (III. ii. 

112) 
palabras: 62 (III. v. 18) 
paper bullets: 42 (II. iii. 

261) 
passing: 19 (II. i. 85) 
patience: 85 (V. i. 102) 
penny-worth: 34 (II. iii. 

45) 
pent-house: 56 (III. iii. 

109) 
Philemon's roof: 20 (II. 

i. 100) 
Pigmies: 28 (II. i. 280) 
pleached: 13 (I. ii. 11); 

43 (III. i. 7) 
pleasant: 2 (I. i. 37) 
pluck up: 88 (V. i. 212) 
politic: 96 (V. ii. Q5) 
possess: 91 (V. i. 294) 
possessed: 57 (III. iii. 

159) 
practice: 72 (IV. i. 190) 
preceptial: 81 (V. i. 24) 
predestinate: 6 (Li. 142) 
present: 55 (III. iii. 79) 
presently: 4 (I. i. 89) 
Prester John: 26 (II. i. 

278) 
priz'd: 46 (III. i. 90) 
project: 45 (III. i. 55) 
proiong'd: 74 (IV. i. 

256) 
proper: 16 (I. iii. 54); 

40 (II. iii. 200) 
propose: 43 (III. i. 12) 
proposing: 43 (III. i, 3) 
prospect: 73 (IV. i. 231) 
protest: 86 (V. i. 152) 
prove: 9 (I. i. 260) 
purchaseth: 45 (III. i. 

70) 
push: 82 (V. i. 38) 



Much Ado About Nothing 



137 



qualify: 102 (V. iv. 67) 
queasy: 30 (II. i. 402) 
quips: 42 (II. iii. 260) 
quirks: 41 (II. iii. 256) 
quit . . of: 72 (IV. i. 

202) 
quondam: 95 (V. ii. 32) 

rabato: 59 (III. iv. 6) 
rack: 73 (IV. i. 222) 
ranges evenly: 31 (II. ii. 

7) 
rearward: 69 (IV. i. 128) 
recheat: 9 (I. i. 251) 
reclusive: 74 (IV. i. 244) 
reechy: 57 (III. iii. 142) 
render: 65 (IV. i. 29) 
reportingly: 47 (III. i. 

116) 
reprove: 41 (II. iii. 252) 
respect of: 59 (III. iv. 

19) 
respects: 39 (II. iii. 188) 
rheum: 97 (V. ii. 88) 
right, do me: 86 (V. 1. 

151) 
riming planet: 95 (V. ii. 

41) 

sad: 7 (I. i. 191) 

sadly borne: 41 (II. iii. 

240) 
salv'd: 12 (I. i. 325) 
Saturn, born under: 14 

(I. iii. 12) 
saving . . reverence: 59 

(III. iv. 32) 
scab: 55 (III. iii. 106) 
scambling: 84 (V. i. 94) 
season: 70 (IV. i. 144) 
second: 80 (V. i, 2) 
secretly kept in: 72 (IV. 

i. 205) 
sedges, creep into: 24 

(II. i. 212) 
self-endear'd: 45 (III. i. 

56) 



sentences: 42 (II. iii. 

260) 
shall: 31 (II. ii. 1) 
shift: 36 (II. iii. 86) 
shrewd: 17 (II. i. 20) 
sick tune: 60 (III. iv. 

42) 
sigh away Sundays: 8 (I. 

i. 212) 
slops: 48 (III. ii. 36) 
smock: 38 (II. iii. 147) 
smoking: 16 (I. iii. 61) 
soft you: 88 (V. i. 212) 
sort (noun) : 1 (I. i. 7) 
sort (verb): 74 (IV. i. 

242) 
speed's: 99 (V. iv. 32) 
spell backward: 45 (III. 

i. 61) 
squarer: 4 (I. i. 83) 
staff: 86 (V. i. 141) 
stale: 31 (II. ii. 26) 
stalk on: 36 (II. iii. 

101) 
start-up: 16 (I. iii. 69) 
still: 5 (I. i. 121) 
stops: 49 (III. ii. 62) 
strain (lineage) : 30 (II. 

i. 397) 
strain (strong feeling) : 

81 (V. i. 12) 
study of imagination: 73 

(IV. i. 227) 
stuffed: 3 (I. i. 60); 61 

(III. iv. 63) 
stvle: 82 (V. i. 37); 94 

'(V. ii. 6) 
subscribe: 96 (V. ii. 61) 
subscribed: 2 (I. i. 41) 
success: 73 (IV. i. 236) 
sufferance: 82 (V. i. 38) 
suffigance: 64 (III. v. 

56) 
suit (noun): 29 (II. i. 

367) 
suit (verb): 81 (V. i. 7) 



138 



Much Ado About Nothing 



suited, well: 89 (V. i. 

236) 
sun-burnt: 28 (II. i. 334) 
sure: 16 (I. iii. 71) 

tabor: 33 (II. iii. 15) 
tale, in a: 78 (IV. ii. 34) 
tax (blame): 2 (I. i. 46) 
tax (impose a task) : 34 

(II. iii. 47) 
temper: 31 (II. ii. 22) 
temporize: 10 (I. i. 284) 
tend on: 14 (I. iii. 17) 
tender: 39 (II. iii. 197) 
terminations: 28 (II. i. 

258) 
thaw: 25 (II. i. 254) 
thick-pleached: 13 (I. ii. 

11) 
tire: 59 (III. iv. 13) 
to-night: 63 (III. v. 33) 
top: 13 (I. ii. 17) 
trace: 43 (III. i. 16) 
trans-shape: 87 (V. i. 

176) 
trencher-man: 3 (I. i. 52) 
Troilus: 95 (V. ii. 31) 
troth: 102 (V. iv. 77) 
trow: 60 (III. iv. 58) 
true: 54 (III. iii. 54) 
try: 10 (I. i. 270) 
tuition: 10 (I. i. 291) 
Turk, turned: 60 (III. iv. 

56) 
twist: 12 (I. i. 331) 
tyrant: 7 (I. i. 176) 

unconfirmed: 56 (III. iii. 

123) 
uncovered: 76 (IV. i. 

310) 
underborne: 59 (III. iv. 

21) 



undergoes: 96 (V. ii. 59) 
undo: 100 (V. iv. 20) 
untowardly turned : 52 

(III. ii. 136) 
use: 27 (II. i. 290) 
uttered: 98 (V. iii. 20) 

vagrom: 53 (III. iii. 26) 
valuing: 70 (IV. i. 141) 
vice: 94 (V. ii. 21) 
visor: 20 (II. i. 100) 



wag: 81 (V. i. 16) 

wait upon: 64 (III. v. 

61) 
walk: 40 (II. iii. 229) 
warrant: 51 (III. ii. 115) 
warren: 24 (II. i. 224) 
watch: 52 (III. iii. S. d.) 
weeds: 99 (V. iii. 30) 
well-favoured: 53 (III. 

iii. 15) 
what . . for: 15 (I. iii. 

49) 
wide: 67 (IV. i. 62) 
windy: 28 (II. i. 329) 
withal: 13 (I. ii. 24) 
wits, five: 3 (I. i. 67) 
witty: 78 (IV. ii. 28) 
woo: 35 (II. iii. 51) 
woodbine coverture: 44 

(III. i. 30) 
woodcock: 87 (V. i. 161) 
woollen, lie in the: 18 

(II. i. 33) 
word, at a: 21 (II. 1. 

120) 
world, a: 63 (III. v. 38) 
worm: 48 (III. ii. 27) 
wrest: 59 (III. iv. 34) 
wring: 81 (V. i. 28) 



